


the reality between me and you

by honeypressed



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Sports, Blood Drinking, Denial of Feelings, Domestic Fluff, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, First Dates, Flowers, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Implied Sexual Content, Intensely Requited Love, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Mention of blood, Needy Lee Minho | Lee Know, Pet Names, Scenting, Strangers to Lovers, Vampire!Jisung, Vampires, human!minho, my goal is to make you go "BUT HE CLEARLY LIKES YOU GOD", oblivious idiots, there is a surprise but i cant spoil that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:22:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25916539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeypressed/pseuds/honeypressed
Summary: Lee Minho, human, lives a perfectly normal life.He works at the firm near his apartment as an advisor, he loves his three cats dearly, and he goes back to visit his parents every so often in Gimpo. It's a normal, happy life, and there isn't anything he's looking to change.Except - sometimes change comes even when he doesn't want it to.Like the vampire that shows up in his apartment's living room overnight, claiming to have been the bat Doongie brought in the night before. In one instant, everything in his life changes.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Kim Seungmin/Seo Changbin
Comments: 100
Kudos: 593
Collections: MINSUNG BINGO: Round One





	1. hello, stranger on my living room table

**Author's Note:**

  * For [softvoice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/softvoice/gifts).



> this is my sixth fill for minsungbingo for the tropes: AU - fantasy/fairytale, AU - sports, AU - college/highschool, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Dates, and Oblivious Idiots
> 
> yes, this is a chaptered fic. yes i lost my fucking mind writing this everyone who so much as looked at me i have been screaming to them abt vampsung. this is probably my last fill for minsungbingo so ill be going out on a high knowing i wrote this entire shtick in like two weeks im at my wits end!!!! 
> 
> i also wrote this for kiera because kiera said "VAMPIRES" and i was like haha ill write u 5k.......... that didnt turn out well :') BUT ANYWAY ki i hope u like this !!!!!!! (love u hehe <3)
> 
> as always, i hope everyone enjoys this!!! + i will put warnings at the beginning of each chapter <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: mention of dead animals

_in the sand of my heart i drew my name there_

_i did not expect for yours to appear there too_

_(the waves come in but our names do not disappear_

_now there are stones where there were scratches)_

* * *

Lee Minho isn’t unfamiliar to his cats bringing back things; as a cat owner, he’s more than aware about the things his cats tend to bring home after their romp through the neighbourhood. All he asks of them is that they return before sundown, because he would rather spend it sleeping than searching for one of his three cats. Or heaven forbid, two out of three of them - or, his worst nightmare,  _ all three of them _ .

The things they bring back tend to range from the most innocuous of things, like a particularly large leaf from the rooftop gardens, to more disgusting things, like dead rats and birds. It's all in Minho's stride though, and he usually buries the dead rats and birds in the lawn downstairs, hurrying through the motions before someone can see that he's doing something suspicious. 

His cats like to spend their time in the rooftop gardens, for one reason or another that Minho doesn’t quite know of, and so they usually bring back wilted flowers or rotten fruits, all of which Minho had received with varying degrees of thankfulness. He doesn't know who is the one that tends to these gardens at the rooftop - everything always seems to be in perfect order and the flowers and bushes grow so splendidly - but he thinks that one day he'll have to apologise to the person because his cats like to roll through the plants. He can't imagine the amount of damage his cats have already done to the garden. 

Therefore, as far as things go, his cats don't bring back anything too surprising. This week has been especially typical, Minho thinks to himself, because there's been only one dead bird and a lot of leaves - it is autumn, after all. Perhaps that is why he puts his guard down. He's come to expect that his cats will just pass through the cat flap of his front door at a quarter to seven, place some dead leaves at his feet and yowl at him for dinner. 

Which is why he shrieks and drops a can of tuna onto the floor when Doongie trots into the kitchen at nine, looking happily at him with a  _ still alive bat in her mouth _ . 

"Doongie!" Minho hisses, then bends down to pry her mouth open with gentle hands. "Bad girl! What did I say about bringing back living things?" 

Doongie opens her mouth almost too willingly, ears flattening back against her head in what Minho presumes is a show of guilt. The bat is fluttering slowly, and Minho can see that it's unhurt, but perhaps just tired - or terrified by Doongie, if her sharp teeth are anything to go by. 

"Stay here, Doongie, I'll give you your punishment later," Minho says sternly, and tries not to melt when she rubs up against his ankles when he stands up. 

Now focusing on the bat, he goes into the hallway of his little apartment, sure that he has some empty boxes from when he received some packages a few days ago. Finding one that's just about the right size for the bat, he quickly backtracks to get a clean towel and folds it up to fit the bottom of the box, then gently puts the bat into the box, hoping that it's soft enough. 

"Don't know what's wrong with you, but I'll let you rest here tonight, yeah?" Minho murmurs quietly to the bat. 

Almost like a response, the bat looks up at Minho, small eyes bright red; it should be unnerving but Minho finds it cute for some reason. He takes the box into his living room and places it on the low table that's nearest the open window. Like this, the bat can fly out anytime it wants to, Minho reasons, and if it's still here the next morning he'll go to find a vet for it.

Satisfied with himself, he turns off the lights in the living room, hopes that it'll be less jarring for the small bat and goes back into the kitchen, where Doongie is awaiting for her punishment. Or, awaiting to not have her punishment, because Minho sends her to timeout for five minutes before relenting and giving her dinner, stroking over her back slowly. He can hear Soonie and Dori playing in his bedroom, the bells of their collars jangling brightly through his apartment, and it's not long before he joins them, waving the little fishline toy above Dori's head for her to bat at. 

Doongie, understandably tired from her bat-catching adventures, is napping on top of the cat tower he spent more than a few paychecks on. Soonie is sprawled out under the heat of his bedside lamp, and she's so cute that Minho can't resist the urge to take a few pictures of her. 

It's all normal, really. This is their usual routine, and there is nothing to look for here. Minho loves this time most, when he can play with his cats after a long day at work - especially when he knows that tomorrow brings the weekend, when he can spend the day cooking and lazing around, bothering his cats while he's at it. There is simply nothing that he is expecting to change, because he has always lived a normal life. 

After all, he's human. He's not like some of his friends who are part-druid or quarter-siren or anything like that. He doesn't need to check his family history because he  _ knows _ that he is human, and so lives a fairly peaceful life.

Lee Minho, human, goes to sleep one Friday night, and his dreams are just as nonsensical as they usually are. 

He has nothing to worry about. 

* * *

It is extremely unusual for him to be woken up by his cats. Usually they just crawl all over him when they want breakfast, meowing pathetically like he's let them starve for a week. Today, he wakes up to the heartbreaking sound of Dori  _ yowling _ from outside, and it's so loud that Minho sits up straight immediately, heart abruptly notching to a hundred and twenty as he stumbles out of bed to see what's wrong. 

"Dori?" Minho says frantically, flipping the light switch on as he enters the living room, "What's wrong, where are you -  _ what the fuck, who are you _ !" 

"You let me in!" The stranger sitting on top of his table says, defending himself. 

Minho thinks he's going to pass out. "I did  _ not _ !"

"You did, you said I could stay for the night," The stranger insists, and then Minho feels his legs lose their ability to hold him up. He sinks onto the carpet of his living room and then he ends up on his knees looking up at the stranger that's  _ still  _ sitting on his small side table who is now looking very panicked.

"Why did you collapse?! Are you okay, do you need - what do humans need? A doctor? I’m not even a human, you guys are so fragile -"

"Listen," Minho interrupts, "my legs are pathetic, my friends tell me that often enough, I don't need a stranger to tell me that. What are you doing in my home? Who even are you?"

The stranger pauses, squinting at Minho like he's assessing him, and Minho feels very much like he's being put through some sort of unknown test. Finally, the stranger opens his mouth again after taking a deep breath. 

"I'm the bat your cat brought back last night. You put me in the box and said I could stay the night, and I didn't want to fuck with your hospitality rules so I did!"

"But - you're… a human now! And everything - not a bat!"

"I'm a vampire, we can all turn into bats," The stranger says dismissively.

"... Excuse me?" Is there protocol for when a bat turns into a vampire in your living room overnight? What is he supposed to do? Minho feels a little faint.

"I'm a vampire. Now - do you need help getting up? I don't think you can be comfortable down there…"

"You are sitting on my side table, I don't think either one of us are comfortable," Minho says flatly.

"Well I don't want to trespass," The vampire says, "but do you need help getting up? I'm not going to attack you or anything, you let me stay the night."

"You attack people?" Minho asks warily, shoulders hunching in together defensively out of instinct. 

"Yeah," The vampire says, "like a vigilante. I go around the streets now and chase off the people who are harassing others, or stalking someone. It's something me and my friends do, since we're most active at night and all that."

Minho hesitates, then accepts the vampire's hand, using him as leverage to pull himself up and sit down on the couch. The vampire sits down beside him, and Minho takes the opportunity to look at the vampire. 

He still doesn't know the vampire's name, but the vampire doesn't look that much older than him - they might even be the same age. The vampire looks a bit out of place and nervous, and Minho supposes he  _ is _ in a stranger's house. He hasn't met many vampires, mostly because they tend to only come out at night - sensitivity to sunlight and all that - and Minho doesn't often go out at night. He isn't too sure if he should feel scared or not with a vampire in his home - but he isn't scared. Not when Doongie comes over and slinks her way between the vampire's ankles, meowing a little. 

"Oh, do you want breakfast?" Minho asks, bending down a little to pat over Doongie's head softly. "Sorry baby, I'll get your food for you now." He makes to get up, but the vampire touches his shoulder gently, and he looks over.

"Are you sure you can get up? I can help you, you know." 

"It's fine," Minho says, shaking his head and standing up. "Besides, I don't even know your name, other than that you're a vigilante vampire who protects the streets, apparently."

"My name is Jisung," The vampire says immediately, almost like he had been compelled to say it. "I'm a pretty young vampire, if you couldn't tell. And also, because you let me stay overnight last night, I'm your problem now until I repay you back."

"What?!" Minho squawks, almost dropping the bowl of water he's filling. "What does that even mean? And - my name is Minho."

"You of all creatures should know," Jisung says, and Minho doesn't understand what that means either. "It's just standard repayment isn't it? You helped me so I'm sticking around you until there's something I can help you with, preferably something of equal value." 

"And… what happens if you don't repay me?" Minho asks, finally putting the food bowls down and letting his cats attack it. "Are you like, punished or something?"

"No!" Jisung says, and he looks supremely awkward, hovering in the grey space between the kitchen and the living room. "It's just courtesy you know, it's not like - binded by magic or something. Helps to foster good feelings between the different species' and all." 

"So… you're going to stick around me until you repay me? Isn't that inconvenient? I have places to be, and I'm sure you have too," Minho reasons, back against the kitchen counter as he looks at Jisung. "You can't be tailing me like a… lost dog or something." 

Jisung shrugs, continues to look awkward between the space of Minho's kitchen and living room. Minho wonders why Jisung just doesn't cross into the kitchen here. "Well, I don't have anything to do in the afternoons - I usually spend my time in the rooftop gardens here. I live here too, you know. That's how your cat caught me." 

"What?!" Minho says, and thinks that he's receiving too much information for one morning. He hasn't even brushed his teeth yet. "You live here - you tend to the rooftop gardens? Oh, my god, I'm so sorry, my cats like to rampage through the gardens up there, I -"

"It's fine," Jisung says over Minho's nervous spluttering. "They usually just laze around in the sun, it's really cute! They never get in my way or destroy the plants often, and their company is nice."

"... I see. Then - how did Doongie catch you?" 

"Oh! Well - it's a bit embarrassing to say this, but I got caught up in a fight with this drunk siren and I think she meant to sing me to sleep but she was drunk so instead she sang me to turn into my bat form until the sun rose. It took a while for me to fly back to the gardens and by the time I did, I was really tired. I think your cat - Doongie, right? I think Doongie thought I needed help so that's how I ended up in your living room."

Minho blinks a few times, slowly processing everything that he's just been told. “So… it was a long night for you last night?” 

“Basically,” Jisung says. 

“Please sit down here,” Minho says, finally having had enough of Jisung’s awkward behaviour. “Make yourself comfortable, I think you’ve been through enough.” 

“... You’re really nice,” Jisung says bluntly after he sits down at the small table in the kitchen. “I don’t think most people would react nicely to a stranger appearing in their living room overnight and then the stranger turns out to be a vampire.” 

“You just sound like you’ve been through a lot,” Minho says, deflecting the compliment entirely. “Do you want - breakfast, or something? I don’t know anything about vampires, I’m so sorry -” 

“You’ll just have to learn, right?” Jisung says, smiling for the first time since he’s appeared in Minho’s home, and Minho convinces himself that it is the suddenness of his smile that causes his heart to jump twice. “Vampires aren’t too different from humans - we have the same nutritional requirements and all that.” 

“Then… what about the blood, and the sunlight things I’ve heard?” Minho asks, a little worried that he might be insensitive. 

“We take blood pills! Have you heard of them? No? It’s basically pills containing the nutrition that blood contains, so we don’t need to go around getting blood from people. I know some vampires get blood from their partners sometimes if the partner is willing, but that’s up to the individual!” 

“Hmm,” Minho says, not liking how his mind immediately goes to possibly offering his neck to Jisung when he doesn’t even know Jisung yet. “I didn’t know that, yeah - that’s cool though! Are the pills any different from real blood?” 

“Real blood has a taste to it,” Jisung says, shrugging. “It’s got like - a flavour. Not because I’ve bitten people before, I’ve had blood bags sometimes when I’m particularly weak. That’s most of the difference really, it isn’t anything much.” 

“Ah… then - the sunlight?” 

“Sunlight won’t kill us, we’re just sensitive to it. It also depends on each person - I’m not particularly affected by sunlight, which is why I spend a lot of time in the gardens. And for my job too - I’m in the sunlight a lot.” 

“Oh! Speaking of the gardens - I haven’t been up there a lot, but it’s always so pretty. I know the other residents like it too, so thank you for keeping it so well.”

“It’s nothing,” Jisung says, waving a hand, but he looks pleased with the compliment. “I have my fun keeping the garden, even though some plants are harder to grow than others… and your cats keep me company quite often too, so it’s even nicer. I didn’t know these were your cats by the way, I’ve been meaning to find their owner for a while now.” 

“Why, have they caused trouble to your garden?” Minho asks, bending down to scratch under Dori’s chin when she meows around his ankles. 

“No, I just wanted to thank the owner for their company,” Jisung says, and when he smiles Minho smiles back unconsciously, suddenly hyper aware of his every movement. “They’re so cute… but I think the owner is cuter.” 

“Let’s go back to talking about my cats,” Minho says hastily, feeling heat building rapidly in his chest. “And - this repayment thing. You can’t be sticking around me until I find something that I could ask you to help me with.” 

“I can,” Jisung says, almost like it’s a challenge, “and I will. I’m free most afternoons because I work as an assistant at the college in the mornings - and you’re wrong if you think I won’t bother you when I have time.”

  
“Assistant?” Minho asks, choosing to ignore the rest of Jisung’s sentence. 

“Yeah, I work as an assistant for the Physical Education department. I coach a volleyball team too, I love them. Vampires - good strength and stamina and all that, you know?”

_ I absolutely don’t _ , Minho thinks to himself, but nods at Jisung’s half-question. “Well, I work as an advisor in the firm near here, you might have heard of it. Which also means I don’t have a lot of time for you to be tailing me, Jisung-ssi, because of this repayment thing. Are you sure you can’t just… let it go?”

“With you, I can’t let it go,” JIsung starts, then realises what it sounds like. “Wait - I mean like, with creatures of your type, I’d rather repay you straightaway.”

“What do you mean creature of my type? I’m a  _ human _ , Jisung-ssi, I’m not going to do anything to you.”

There is a prolonged silence in which Jisung stares at him, disbelieving. “You - you think you’re a  _ human _ ? Well, I  _ guess  _ you can say that you’re human but you’re also  _ not _ \- I can smell it on you! Has no one told you about this?!” 

Minho presses his lips together. “I’m a human,” He says, voice level and cool, “I haven’t been anything else my whole life. And to answer you - no one has mentioned anything about me not smelling like a human.” That might have to do with the fact that most of his friends are  _ also  _ human, but he isn’t about to tell that to this home-breaking, species-accusing vampire. 

Jisung eyes him for a while, then relaxes into the chair, apparently letting it go. “Well, it’s none of my business, really. This is something you should take up with your parents, not me. Right now, I just want to repay what you have done for me, something preferably of equal value.” 

“Why don’t you just  _ tell  _ me? You can’t just say things like this and then not continue what you’re talking about!” 

“Sure, I can smell it on you, but I’m not about to dip my foot into the cesspool of why you’ve grown up thinking you’re a full human.” 

“Full human? Are you saying I’m a halfling or something?”

“ _ Damn _ ! You - I really don’t know why  _ you  _ don’t know what you are. I’m not saying anything else, you’re going to make me say it.”

“C’mon, just tell me already! Can’t you consider telling me what I am as repayment?” 

“I’m not  _ saving _ you or helping you by doing that, so no, I can’t.” 

“Please,” Minho says, curious enough to plead, “can’t you just tell me? I’m not even visiting my parents until  _ Chuseok _ so I can’t know until then!”

“You get really whiny when you want something, huh?” Jisung says, and there’s a smile playing on his lips. “It’s cute but - I’m not going to be the one who tells you this. You should ask your parents about this thing, Minho-ssi, I’m just someone who wants to repay you.”

“Fine, fine,” Minho relents, “I’ll ask my parents. And… I guess we just have to spend time together if you want to find a way to repay me. There really is nothing that I need help with right now.” 

“That’s perfect with me,” Jisung says, smiling a full smile, and the sunlight streaming in through his windows catch on the sharpness of his canines. It doesn’t scare Minho, but he would rather not think about the strange feeling that is swirling in his chest.

* * *

Jisung doesn’t stick around too much for the first few days. The weekend passes fast, and then they both have work to go to when the week starts again. In fact, everything seems so normal that Minho wonders if a bat-turned-vampire was really brought in by Doongie, except that on a Thursday evening there is a single orchid lying on his doorstep when he returns.

There is also a note attached to the flower. 

_ ‘I realised I forgot to give you my number when we met last time, so here it is! Hope you’ve had a good day, cutie :) - Jisung, 175-xx00-21’ _

Is it possible to block someone even before you enter their number? Minho wonders, and resolutely ignores how his cheeks have become flushed. He takes his time as he enters his apartment, greeting his cats and going to wash up and change into comfier clothes, stalling the time until he has to enter Jisung’s number and text him. 

And he takes way, way too long to do it. He ends up halfway through cooking dinner before remembering that he’s supposed to text Jisung, and he sets the stove fire to low before he picks up the orchid again and carefully inputs the correct number into his phone. 

Why are his hands shaking? There shouldn’t be a reason that his hands are shaking - this is just Jisung, it’s literally just a friend that he got to know because Doongie brought a bat back in her mouth - and yet his hands shake enough that he makes several typos as he composes a message to Jisung on KakaoTalk. He’s planning to send the message then leave it so he can continue cooking, but he isn’t expecting for Jisung to reply straight away. 

[Jisung (garden vampire)]

[ _ 18:32 _ ] hi, this is Minho! 

[ _ 18:32 _ ] you left an orchid and your number on my door so i thought i’d just say hi 

[ _ 18:32 _ ] hey!! 

[ _ 18:32 _ ] i hope you liked the flower 

[ _ 18:32 _ ] did you just finish work?

[ _ 18:34 _ ] i did it’s really pretty, thank you!

[ _ 18:34 _ ] i just came back yeah 

[ _ 18:34 _ ] i'm actually making dinner 

[ _ 18:34 _ ] oh please don't let me disturb you 

[ _ 18:34 _ ] i'll text you again when you finish your dinner ^^ 

[ _ 18:35 _ ] sure!! 

[ _ 18:35 _ ] see you 

[ _ 18:36 _ ] enjoy your dinner :)

Minho goes back to cooking his dinner with significantly less shaky hands and much warmer cheeks. Now, he isn’t stalling anymore. He goes through cooking and eating and washing up with a sense of anticipation; he feels like he’s a pre-teen again having a first crush, but the realisation doesn’t quite slow him down like it might have.

Like always, he packs away the leftover of his fried rice to take into lunch tomorrow, but instead of going to relax and play with his cats, he picks up his phone again and sinks into the couch, legs folding underneath him as he goes. He lets Dori jump up into his lap and he pets her gently, feeling a little less anxious about continuing his conversation with Jisung. 

[Jisung (garden vampire)]

[ _ 19:22 _ ] hey i’m back ^^

[ _ 19:22 _ ] i hope you ate well too 

Jisung takes a while to respond, but Minho doesn’t mind - it allows him to coo at his cats, and by the time Jisung texts back, he’s on his stomach on the couch with Dori on his lower back and Soonie around his shoulders. Doongie is sitting next to him, butt faced towards him and tail slowly swishing back and forth; Minho wonders how much Doongie would hate him if he patted Doongie’s butt right now. 

[ _ 19:45 _ ] hey!! 

[ _ 19:45 _ ] sorry i was playing a game 

[ _ 19:46 _ ] i ate well too, thank you~~

[ _ 19:46 _ ] so not to rush you but have you thought about anything you need help with 

[ _ 19:46 _ ] [ _ Jisung (garden vampire) sent you a sticker _ ]

[ _ 19:48 _ ] don't worry!! 

[ _ 19:48 _ ] oh what games do you play? 

[ _ 19:48 _ ] and no i'm sorry i haven't thought about that ㅠㅠ

[ _ 19:50 _ ] no no it's okay!!! dont worry about it

[ _ 19:50 _ ] oh i currently play this rn

[ _ 19:50 _ ] [ _ Jisung (vampire garden) sent you a link _ ]

[ _ 19:51 _ ] if i asked you to get dinner with me tomorrow would you say yes?

[ _ 19:54 _ ] oh that game looks really good!! 

[ _ 19:54 _ ] i think i’ll start playing it too 

[ _ 19:55 _ ] if by dinner you mean takeout, then yes

[ _ 19:57 _ ] oh if you’re playing it

[ _ 19:57 _ ] i recommend you get more base action points to start 

[ _ 19:58 _ ] and if you can get action cards that give defense that's even better 

[ _ 19:58 _ ] takeout it is then! 

[ _ 19:58 _ ] when you come back tomorrow, just knock on my door 

[ _ 19:59 _ ] i'm on the top floor, unit 3 

[ _ 20:00 _ ] noted!! thank you :>>

[ _ 20:00 _ ] i'll tell you how my playthrough goes ^^

[ _ 20:00 _ ] okay sure!! 

[ _ 20:00 _ ] is there any reason you want to have dinner together tho? 

[ _ 20:04 _ ] i want to get to know you better 

[ _ 20:04 _ ] i’m going to repay you after all

[ _ 20:04 _ ] and also i want access to your cats

[ _ 20:06 _ ] i don't control my cats just so you know 

[ _ 20:06 _ ] my cats decide who they want to meet 

[ _ 20:06 _ ] if they like you they like you 

[ _ 20:06 _ ] fantastic i just need to bribe your cats 

[ _ 20:07 _ ] cat thief!!!! 

[ _ 20:07 _ ] oh would you look at that 

[ _ 20:07 _ ] it's time for my 

[ _ 20:07 _ ] night time vigilante duties 

[ _ 20:07 _ ] sounds fake but okay

[ _ 20:09 _ ] i've been caught out oh no~

[ _ 20:09 _ ] but i do need to go now ^^

[ _ 20:09 _ ] my group of friends will come yelling for me if i don't 

[ _ 20:09 _ ] i look forward to seeing you tomorrow night 

[ _ 20:10 _ ] okok go!!! 

[ _ 20:10 _ ] me too ^^

[ _ 20:10 _ ] see you!! 

Texting Jisung - is incredibly easy. Texting Jisung also makes him smile, and Minho doesn’t quite want to think about what that means right now. The game that Jisung was talking about has downloaded by now, and so he sits up, gently dislodging Soonie from around his shoulders so he can sit up and stretch his back as the game loads. 

Taking Jisung’s advice as he starts playing, he quickly becomes absorbed by the game. It’s a type of game he hasn’t really played before - it’s a deck-building role-playing game, and the art and story is all so incredibly interesting that he easily spends a few hours playing the game before he realises that he needs to go into work tomorrow morning. 

Regretfully, he exits the game after defeating the third final boss, and begins to get ready for bed. Just as he’s brushing his teeth though - he wonders if he should just text Jisung quickly to say that he loves the game. It couldn’t hurt, right? 

Leaving it to the last thing before he goes to bed, he checks the locks and turns off the lights and makes sure his alarm is working before he pulls the blankets up around his body, reaching for his phone that’s lying on his nightstand. He replies to a few messages and notifications on his social medias, and then hesitates on the short chat history he has with Jisung before deciding to just go for it. 

After all, Jisung’s just recommended a game to him that he’ll probably be playing for a week straight. 

[Jisung (garden vampire)]

[ _ 23:11 _ ] hey i just wanted to say that

[ _ 23:11 _ ] that game you recommended to me

[ _ 23:11 _ ] i really love it!!! its so fun to play i've been playing it for hours now 

[ _ 23:11 _ ] thank you for recommending it and giving me advice 

[ _ 23:11 _ ] im sleeping now so ^^ goodnight

Satisfied, he turns his phone to silent and plugs the charger into it, making sure it’s charging before he turns his night lamp off and and pulling the blankets more securely around him. He can hear the gentle jangle of his cats’ collars echoing through his apartment, and the familiar sound lulls him to sleep. 

There is also the matter of how warm his chest feels, like his heart is fuller than it usually is; Minho doesn’t quite want to think if it is Jisung that might have caused him to feel this way. For now, he falls asleep easily, and so much more warmer than usual.

The messages come in when he’s fast asleep.

[ _ 00:44 _ ] i’m glad you like the game!! 

[ _ 00:44 _ ] tell me which class you like the most~

[ _ 00:45 _ ] goodnight

[ _ 00:45 _ ] you’re really cute, sleep well [ _! Message not sent due to network failure. Retry or Delete? _ ]

(a moment of hesitance. then - the delete option is selected.)

* * *

MInho is terribly excited for someone that is going to have takeout with someone who is practically a stranger. It might also be that it’s a Friday, and with Friday brings the weekend, and he knows he’s going to spend the weekend playing his new game so he can find out which class he likes playing the best. His excitement is palpable enough that even his coworker comments on it.

“You look unusually happy for a Friday morning,” Chan says, frowning at a stack of files on his desk. “Have something you’re looking forward to?” 

_ Three, actually _ . “Just the weekend, you know,” Minho says instead, because he knows Chan is going to start teasing him the moment he mentions that he’s going to have dinner with someone later. 

“A weekend where we have to spend chasing SPO for the recordings,” Chan reminds him, and Minho groans. 

“Oh, stop that. Don’t even go there - didn’t SPO email back saying that the officer who did the confession is a rookie so he didn’t record it?” 

“They  _ what _ ?!” Chan says, and his voice echoes in their small office. 

“Perks of being an advisor, I guess,” Minho says, slightly listless now that he recalls the devastating email he got yesterday.. “That makes the confession and evidence quite useless but that’s not for us to go and worry about. The prosecutors will have a hard time with this case, I really don’t know what else we can do.”

“... I’m going to see SPO next Monday,” Chan sighs. “Do you want to come with me? I need to and pick up a few more things as well that I’ve been asking them to send over to us but they haven’t. You don’t have any meetings after lunch, do you?”

“No, I don’t. I’ll go with you - two is better than one, especially with SPO.”

The rest of the day is the usual - work and bitching about SPO and hoping the dreaded email of  _ we lost the case _ doesn’t land in their inboxes. By the time he gets off work, he’s so brain-dead that he ends up going to his own apartment before remembering that he has a takeaway dinner planned with Jisung. 

Deciding that he hasn’t lost anything by coming to his own apartment first, he puts his work things away and changes into more comfortable clothes, filling the water and food bowls for his cats before bidding them goodbye again for a while. He takes the stairs instead of the elevator - the top floor is only three floors up from where he is, and he wants to stretch his legs a little.

Just as he’s reached the third unit on the top floor, his phone chimes with a message from Jisung, asking if he’s back yet and what he likes to eat - instead of replying, he reaches forward and rings the doorbell.

“ _ Coming _ !” Minho hears from the inside of the apartment, and there’s hurried shuffling and what sounds like a stiff lock being turned before the front door opens and reveals Jisung. A Jisung with damp, messy hair and his phone held loosely in his hand; the thought that Jisung is actually really attractive crosses Minho’s mind before he stamps that down.

“Minho-ssi!” Jisung says, beaming. “You’re here, I just texted you!”

“I know,” Minho says, and lets Jisung’s enthusiasm infect him. “I came just as you texted me. And if you wanted to know, my favourite food is basically everything - but I like sushi a lot today.” 

“Sushi it is then,” Jisung says, opening the door wider and beckoning Minho to come in. “I’ll go and make us something to drink, do you want to order the food for us?” 

“Sure! Do you have any allergies? Or foods you don’t like?” MInho asks as he sits down at the dining table.

Jisung disappears into the kitchen. “I think I’m pretty okay with most sushi things, I’m not too fussy. Do you have anything you want to drink in particular?”

“Do you have tea?” 

“I have this really nice green tea, do you wanna try it?”

“Yes!” 

The next few minutes are spent companionably, with Minho ordering sushi for the both of them and Jisung boiling the water and getting mugs for their tea. Minho is done faster than Jisung, and he spends a few minutes looking around at Jisung’s apartment. 

It’s a little messy, but there is charm in it. Music sheets and guitar picks are sprawled on the coffee table, and there’s a guitar stood up next to the window, with a keyboard set up on the other side of the window. Then, in the other corner of the living room, there’s a pile of athletic equipment, from volleyballs and basketballs to tennis balls and badminton racquets; it reminds Minho that Jisung works as an assistant in the Physical Education department. 

The smell of warmth is both from sunshine and the water that’s boiling in the kitchen, and underneath all that Minho thinks he can smell something like coffee. It’s such a welcoming scent that Minho feels more and more at ease as he sits at Jisung’s small dining table, wooden and chipped in places with chairs that are a little wobbly.

“Sorry it’s a bit messy,” Jisung says as he comes to Minho with two mugs of tea in his hand. “It’s Friday, I haven’t had time to organise anything before you came over.”

“I’m here to have dinner, not critique how you keep your apartment,” Minho says, accepting the mug of tea gratefully. “Besides, it’s clean, and I like how you keep it. And thanks for the tea, it smells great!” 

“It’s green tea with roasted brown rice,” Jisung says, smiling. “You’re welcome.”

Minho ends up spending the half an hour it takes for their food to arrive by showing Jisung how far he’s progressed in his game, and Jisung takes him through another playthrough, giving him tips on which are the best cards to get and that if his character dies, he should resurrect because that’s a free blessing he can get.

“I don’t like to get the double-edged cards,” Jisung says, “like the ‘Ticket Auction’ card. I think that’s a shitty card - but other cards are great!” 

“What does ‘exile’ mean?” Minho asks, and then Jisung launches into a spiel on what those cards do and how he should deal out cards so he gets the most of his turn. 

It’s endearing and cute, and they keep talking about the best card combinations over dinner. The main reason why Jisung invited him over - to talk about the whole repayment arrangement - is completely forgotten as they continue to talk about the game. Somewhere between cleaning up after they eat and migrating to the couch, Minho shivers a little, wishing he had brought a jacket to wear over his t-shirt. 

“Oh, are you cold?” Jisung asks. “I’ll turn up the heat, but it might take a while. Do you want to borrow a jacket?” 

“It’s fine, I’ll just wait for the heating to kick in,” Minho says, assuring. 

“Don’t be silly, I don’t want you to be cold when I have so many jackets,” Jisung says, and goes into his bedroom for a second before he reappears with a faux fur coat, black with white stripes splashed over it randomly. “Here you go, have this.” 

“Thank you,” Minho says, putting the jacket on and tugging the sleeves past his fingers as he follows Jisung into the living room. 

“Do you wanna know some other deck-building games I like?” Jisung asks, and if Minho is sure of himself, he thinks Jisung’s eyes drop to his shoulders, then to his hands which are swallowed by the sleeves. When he opens his mouth again, there is the flash of his canines, sharp in the fluorescent lights of his living room and Minho pulls the jacket around him more securely, suddenly flustered. 

“I - sure! I’m always up for good games.” 

The rest of the night is spent going through games together and for some reason, he ends up going back to his apartment at nine with Jisung’s jacket. 

“It’s cold from here to your place,” Jisung reasons, “and you need that jacket more than me right now. Just give it back to me the next time I see you.” 

Minho can’t quite find an excuse in himself to return the jacket, and so he returns to his apartment with Jisung’s jacket wrapped around him. It smells like warmth and coffee, but soon the scent dissipates in his nose and he can’t smell it anymore.

(he can’t. but that doesn’t mean the smell goes away.)

* * *

Somehow, Jisung convinces him to go out again on Sunday to eat together. Maybe it’s because of the fun time they had together on Friday night that Minho agrees easily, and once again he wakes up on a Sunday morning full of anticipation for the day. They had settled on a  _ ramyeon _ bar near their apartment, so there isn’t a need to dress nicely; Minho wears a big hoodie and some old jeans and waits for Jisung to text him.

Jisung messages him a few minutes later and they meet in the foyer of their apartment. It’s a lovely autumn’s day, warm as the sun shines down, and they’re immersed in gamer talk again, this time about old-school role-playing games and visual novels. Somewhere along the walk, the conversation turns to Minho’s cat, then Jisung’s garden, and their conversation carries all the way through lunch.

Jisung pauses to take a blood pill - “I don’t know why I have to take them after meals, I just know that I do, but I always forget,” - before their conversation resumes, with Minho chatting excitedly about one of the games he had found that was inspired by DND.

It’s been a while since Minho’s made new friends, and having Jisung with him now feels like a breath of fresh air. 

For all that superstition about vampires not being able to resist the sun, Jisung looks gorgeous in the sunlight. He looks like he was made to live in the sun against everything that he is as a vampire, and for a moment when he smiles at Minho and the sunlight catches on his canines, Minho wonders if this is what a date might feel like. 

He immediately shakes that thought out of his mind. 

“Oh, I wanted to stop at the convenience store before I went back,” Minho says, spying the store at the end of the street. “You can go back first, I -”

“No, I’ll follow you,” Jisung says immediately. “It’s a nice day to be out, let’s go together.” 

Jisung’s company being more than welcome, they continue their walk down the street to the convenience store, and Jisung offers to wait outside for him since he wants to enjoy the sunshine, and also because he has nothing to buy. 

The convenience store blasts cold air as he enters, and he tucks his hands into the pockets of his hoodies as he enters the depths of the aisles. Shouldn’t they change the air-conditioning to heating already? He only really wants to stock up on some snacks and maybe see if they stock his favourite brand of dried seaweed. 

They do  _ not _ .

Minho is disappointed, but not as disappointed as he is when the door of the convenience store opens again and someone with a familiar tuft of brown hair walks in. He would recognise that hair anywhere he was. "What are  _ you  _ doing here," He says, scowling as he emerges from the convenience store aisles. "Thought I wouldn't see your face again after last time."

"Thanks for ruining my day," Seungmin says, mirroring the scowl on Minho's face. "Am I not allowed to visit the convenience store now?" 

"Isn't the full moon in two days? Thought you're supposed to be home, waiting," Minho returns, but throws a packet of chips at Seungmin. "Wouldn't want a werewolf rampaging through the streets doing vigilante work, would we?" 

"Or what, you'll bail me out again?" Seungmin scoffs, squeezing behind Minho to get to the fridges. "I don't need your help, Lee, you're always just in my way."

"Watch your mouth, Kim," Minho warns. 

"Whatever," Seungmin says. "Also - you smell different. Are you spending a lot of time with someone?"

"What?" Minho says, "Are you saying I smell bad?"

"If you want to take it that way, sure."

Despite all of their banter on the surface, Minho is  _ actually _ friends with Seungmin. He had met the younger werewolf a couple of years ago and their relationship had always been enemies on the outside but friends deep down. Somewhere  _ very _ deep down. It isn't unusual for them to be squabbling about something until they almost start fighting, and it is also no wonder that other people think they are archenemies. 

Perhaps that is also why Jisung - who had been waiting for him outside the convenience store - takes one look at him and Seungmin arguing about the strawberry milk that Seungmin bought and throws himself between them, snarling at Seungmin.

" _ Stay away _ from him," Jisung says, and his voice is grounded so deep like Minho has never heard before. "Why are you talking to him?"

"Woah," Seungmin says coolly, tearing open the carton of milk in his hands. "Calm down, vampire. I'll talk to anyone I want to… including him. Did you think just putting your scent all over him would stop anyone?" 

"Fuck off, werewolf," Jisung growls. "Respect territory and I'll respect you. You're arguing with Minho and I see that as a threat."

"Excuse me? I can take care of myself," Minho interrupts. "Stop picking fights for me, Jisung. I know you do your vigilante thing well but I'm  _ fine _ ." 

"Fine," Jisung repeats, crossing his arms. "But if I see you arguing with Minho again it's on sight, werewolf." 

"I will find Minho just to argue with him," Seungmin replies, smiling as he does so. "Nothing's going to work unless you actually stake your claim, vampire. See you around, Minho, Minho’s boyfriend." 

“We are not dating!” Minho yells after Seungmin, a little flustered, then turns to Jisung. "Hey, you," He says before Jisung can make a lunge at Seungmin. "Seungmin is my friend. I know it doesn't look like it but he isn't going to hurt me. But you - why'd you act like that? I can take care of myself, I don't need you to fight anyone for me." 

"... I was just looking out for you," Jisung mumbles, now looking a bit sheepish. "I want to repay you and I guess I've been hanging around you quite a lot these days. You - well, I don't know if you'll understand this but - you’re familiar enough to me that I want to keep you safe.” 

Minho pauses, wonders where he’s heard this before; he tries not to think about how Seungmin thought they were dating. “You mean like you think I’m one of your pack or something?” He asks, when he finally places that he’s heard Seungmin talk about his boyfriend in the same manner. He wonders what this means.

“Kind of,” Jisung grimaces. “Sorry, I know it’s kind of weird, seeing as we haven’t known each other long and all. It’s probably cause I’ve been hanging around you a lot these days… and I really like your cats. And the jacket. You've been wearing my jacket too… also - I don’t have a pack. Vampires don’t really have a pack nowadays, so like, this kind of protective feeling is transferred onto people close to us instead.”

“It’s okay, you weren’t acting out of a bad place,” Minho says, and makes a mental note to himself to read up on vampires. Especially if he’s going to have one hanging around him until said vampire repays him or something. 

“I’m sorry, by the way, for how I treated your friend. And for leaving my scent on you. It’s all a bit much for you… considering you don’t even know what you are.” 

“ _ Rude _ ,” Minho hisses. “You’re the one who won’t tell me what I am! I’m not going to see my parents until  _ chuseok _ so I can’t know until then, why won’t you just tell me?”

“I’m not supposed to be the one who tells you this,” Jisung says, suddenly stern. “If your parents haven’t told you what you really are then I suppose there’s a  _ reason _ why. Why don’t you call your parents or something?” 

“The line is always bad, and their hearing isn’t that good, I don’t want to trouble them,” Minho grumbles. “Anyway, let’s go home. I’ve got what I need, and what I don’t need.”

It takes a while for Jisung to process that. “Hey!” Jisung cries, “Rude! I just want to repay you!”

Minho laughs; he doesn’t notice how the people surrounding them snap to attention, looking over at him like they’ve been pulled by a puppet string attached around their necks. “You’re so dramatic. I have things to do, and you have a garden to attend to, if my cats haven’t trashed it already.” 

“How many times do I have to say that your cats never trash my garden? They really just sit there and lie under the sunlight.” 

“Then why do they keep coming back dirty? With their fur full of leaves? They were really dirty like, the day before.” 

“... So they  _ might _ have rolled through the compost -”

“ _ Han Jisung _ !” 

* * *

Strangely though, ever since Seungmin pointed it out and Jisung admitted to it, having the vampire around him - or even just his scent, though Minho honestly can't smell anything - is enough to keep most trouble away from him. 

At work, his coworkers are unusually easy to work with, and even his fussy clients don’t give him such a hard time as they usually do. When he’s walking on the streets at night, he’s given a wider berth and people don’t meet his eyes. He isn’t sure if it’s a placebo effect or something similar, or if having Jisung around him really does keep trouble away.

It’s actually  _ wonderful _ . For someone that had been repeatedly approached on the street multiple times and then was actually  _ followed _ home by some particularly insistent people, this is basically heaven. No one bothers him, no one talks to him. He can easily finish his grocery store runs and go back without needing to worry that someone is following him.

This also makes him think about Jisung’s insistence on repaying him. Jisung had said that since Minho basically saved him and gave him safety, he wanted to do the same for Minho, except Minho didn’t really need any sort of saving at the moment. If Jisung could give him this strange protective scent for the next few days would that count as repayment enough? Surely it would be enough, and Jisung wouldn’t need to stick around him anymore - it’s already been more than a week since they met, and he doesn’t want to feel like he’s burdening Jisung by dragging his feet about this repayment. 

So, it’s thirteen days after Minho first saves the bat from Doongie’s mouth that he goes to find Jisung and ask for his repayment. 

“You want me to  _ what _ ?” Jisung says, and he sounds a little incredulous. 

They’re in Jisung’s apartment right now; it’s on the floor just below the rooftop gardens, three floors above Minho’s own apartment. It’s both familiar and strange at the same time, but Minho feels comfortable on Jisung’s couch, and he tucks his feet beneath himself. 

“I want my repayment to be your… scent on me. Does that sound weird? It’s just that since you said you’ve been accidentally leaving your scent on me, I’ve had a lot less trouble wherever I go. And that counts as safety, right? You can just leave your scent on like - my jacket or something and then the repayment is done!” 

Jisung pauses, runs a hand through his hair and sits down on the footstool in front of Minho. He looks serious all of a sudden, and Minho can’t help the feeling he has been pushing away for the past few days from rising into his chest - Jisung is attractive. He’s handsome and cute in equal amounts, sharp eyes but soft cheeks, pretty mouth and winning smile; he’s attractive in the way he acts too, thoughtful and caring and  _ protective _ and even though he’s more than a bit clumsy he’s already caught Minho’s eye as he tripped over.

“This scent thing - I wasn’t meant to leave anything on you, that was my fault,” Jisung says, and he’s once again apologising. “Vampires - or any creature, really - usually leave our scents on the people close to us, and not just like a friend or something.” 

“Like family?” Minho asks, and his heart sinks a little at the prospect. 

“No - like, our partners. If we were dating, I would be more than happy to leave my scent on you, but if we’re not it’s kind of overstepping your boundaries…” 

“But - but your scent makes me feel safe,” Minho blurts out, feeling his cheeks burn as he does. “My life - was so much easier, and you saved me from that guy down the road who likes to yell at me when I walk past his car in the evening.” 

“There are people  _ yelling _ at you?” Jisung asks, and it looks like he’s considering Minho’s suggestion already. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” 

“Why would I? It’s not like I’ve known you for long… and I was also used to it, but with you around, everything is so much easier.” 

“You’re right, we don’t really know each other - but if you want my scent then… we could pretend to date? I mean - your friend, the werewolf - he assumed we were dating, so I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch? Like, we can just remain as friends when we’re alone but outside if you tell people you’re dating me when they ask you about your scent, you won’t get weird comments too,” Jisung suggests tentatively, chewing on his bottom lip, hunched over on the footstool. He looks unfairly attractive. 

“So we’re faking a relationship as my repayment?” Minho asks, feeling the laughter bubbling inside his chest. “I feel like I’m in a shitty movie or something right now.”

“Essentially,” Jisung agrees, laughing as well. “We can get to know each other as friends, and I’ll leave my scent on your clothes. If anyone asks why you can just say we’re dating! It’ll make your life easier, you don’t need to explain anything to anyone too. How about it?” 

“How long are we faking this for?” Minho asks, leaning forward. His heart is thudding his chest - he isn’t sure if Jisung will be able to hear it. 

“Until people learn to leave you alone without my scent?” Jisung offers, and he sits up straight too. Now he’s looking directly at Minho, and there is a light in his eyes that makes Minho’s heart stutter in the cavity of his chest. 

“Might take a while,” Minho says lightly, means it as a joke. 

“That’s fine,” Jisung says, and his smile glows. “We have time, don’t we?” 

“Yeah,” Minho says, mouth dry.

It isn’t until he’s back in his own apartment that he realises that they never agreed on any ground rules about their fake relationship, and that everything is in the grey area now.

  
  



	2. snowdrops in your hair

_tonight the sky is empty_

_but god_

_your eyes -_

* * *

Everything starts off well. It’s not even a major change from their normal behaviour, especially because their friendship has just started. They still eat together and find new games to play together - and there are even new things added to their time together, courtesy of their attempt at pretending to be in a relationship.

The new things - Jisung, coming over to play with Minho’s cats some evenings; Minho, going up to visit Jisung in his garden when he has the time - and more. Like this, it just feels like he has a new friend - a new friend who is also a vampire that gives Minho his jackets and also scents over his own jackets just in case. 

The scenting is awkward at first. 

After all, Minho has never had someone scent his things, and he doesn’t even know what scenting entails, so he doesn’t quite know if he should leave the room, if he should look at Jisung, or what he should do when he receives the first jacket Jisung returns to him. He ends up thanking Jisung in a mumbled undertone, and flushes when Jisung laughs and tells him he’s cute. 

Jisung promises to give him another jacket by the end of the week before he leaves Minho’s apartment that evening, and Minho just agrees, too flustered by Jisung’s compliment to think about formulating a proper response.

The first time that Minho wears Jisung’s jacket outside is on Monday is on the third day of their agreed fake relationship. This jacket is also the same one that Jisung had loaned to him about a week ago when they had their takeout dinner together, and Minho can’t help but be self-conscious of the jacket. Somehow, even though he feels so much more aware of how people look at him, people also look at him  _ less _ . Minho guesses that it really is true that people are warded off by Jisung’s scent on him. 

However, it is only  _ strangers _ that are warded off - his friends, however, are more than interested. 

“That’s not your jacket,” Chan says the moment Minho steps into work. “Who gave you their jacket?” Damn Chan and his uncanny eye for noticing when he’s got new things.

“It is totally my jacket,” Minho says unconvincingly. “I - uh, bought it! This weekend… do you like it?” 

Chan looks at him with critical eyes, pen hovering over some papers that are crammed full of words. “Sure, if you say so,” Chan agrees easily, and Minho relaxes, walks over to his own desk as his shoulders loosen up. 

“Are we still going over to SPO today?” Minho asks, reading the sticky notes he had pasted to his computer screen last Friday. “We still need those files, unless SPO  _ actually  _ sent them over -”

“You don’t use this cologne,” Chan remarks casually. “I’ve known you for so long, Minho-yah, and you’ve never used this cologne, ever. Unless you bought both new cologne and a new jacket this weekend, I think someone has loaned you their jacket.” He’s smiling like he’s already won, and Minho decides it would be prudent to give up now.

Minho presses his lips together, and is sure that the flush of his cheeks is more than enough of an answer - and he decides the first person he might as well tell is Chan. “Ah - well… this is so - but - uh, this jacket… is my - my boyfriend’s. He gave it to me this weekend because I was cold and - and I haven’t returned it to him yet so…” 

“Congrats,” Chan says, a smile already splitting his face in half. “We have things to do - but if you want to tell me about this over lunch, I’ll be more than happy to listen to you.” 

“Okay,” Minho says, and wonders what the hell he’s going to say - he’s not about to tell Chan he’s faking a relationship with a vampire because of some damned repayment issue. Still, even that doesn’t stop the small, shy smile from curling the corner of his lips whenever he spots Jisung’s coat hanging on the coat rack hook. 

_ It’s not a real relationship, stop being so… blushy _ , Minho scolds himself later when he’s printing some papers and he’s spacing out in front of the printer.  _ This is just something that will last a month, and then you can go back to not knowing Jisung at all! _

The papers in his hand are still hot from the printer, but he takes them anyway and tries not to think about Jisung anymore. After all, they’re just friends, nothing else. 

Chan doesn’t ask a lot of questions over lunch, just listens to Minho bumble around his explanations of how he and Jisung got together. He doesn’t change much of it - that he met Jisung because they live in the same apartment, and that they got together pretty quickly because they had a mutual crush on each other. It should be easy, this explanation, but he can’t quite place why he stutters over his words and flushes every time Chan says  _ your boyfriend _ . 

“You sound like you like him a lot,” Chan says, just with a slight undertone of laughter. “It’s cute, I hope you’re happy with him.” 

“Oh… do I?” Minho murmurs, and pulls the sleeves of his jacket down further over his fingers. There shouldn’t be a reason as to why he’s happy about this whole relationship arrangement, and he  _ knows _ that it’s fake, that it isn’t real - and yet, there can be no doubt that he  _ is _ happy. 

He doesn't want to dwell on why he’s happy. He just is, and he’ll leave it there.

As much as they agreed in the beginning that they would simply remain friends when alone and to others they would say that they’re dating, it doesn’t quite stay that way. Jisung has to keep giving Minho his jackets - which is not sustainable, Minho complains, because then Jisung will run out of jackets to wear - so he suggests that Jisung scent his jackets instead. 

Because of this, Jisung often comes around in the evenings, and while Minho goes to order takeout or get dinner, Jisung takes the offered jacket and drapes it over his body for a good fifteen minutes before he’s done. After a while, Jisung simply ends up wearing the jacket and helps to make dinner with Minho - but it isn’t even a while because it’s just the second week of their fake relationship. 

Perhaps it’s because Jisung is around almost every evening now that Minho has come to expect and appreciate his presence. It’s not just him and his cats and the relative silence - there is also Jisung and his undertoned humming and the background tracks of the games he plays. 

_ It’s really nice _ , Minho muses, just fifteen days after their fake relationship has started. 

Today is a Wednesday evening, and Soonie is purring on his lap as Jisung chats with the delivery person at the door that has brought them their food. It also feels oddly domestic, but Minho doesn’t want to explore that part of his thoughts; he constantly reminds himself that they are  _ just friends _ when they’re alone - but it all becomes muddled so easily and so quickly. 

It happens firstly because Minho’s friends ask to see his new boyfriend. 

For all that Jisung told him  _ you can just say we’re dating _ , it becomes more complicated because Minho actually has friends who want to meet his supposed boyfriend, so it’s with some trepidation that he tells Jisung the news.

“My friends want to meet my new boyfriend,” Minho says with what he hopes is the casual tone of someone imparting unimportant information. “This weekend, actually, for lunch.” 

“And who is the new boyfriend?” Jisung asks, slightly amused. 

Minho scowls, throws some leaves at him. “You, who else? I don’t go around getting into fake relationships with everyone I meet, you know.” 

Jisung laughs at that, leans his rake against the wall and starts cleaning up the soil that’s spilled out of the beds. “I know, I know, I was just teasing you. Anyway - of course I’ll go with you, that’s what I need to do, right? Can I know who I’m meeting?” 

Saying thank you doesn’t quite feel right, but not saying thank you doesn’t quite feel right either; Minho settles on getting up from where he had been sitting on the bench and joining Jisung. Somehow, it feels natural for Jisung to lean in closer too until their sides are pressed together - when did that start happening? Minho wonders if his friends will realise that they aren’t dating. 

“It’s just two friends! They aren’t going to grill you or anything, but they’re interested in who I’m dating…” 

“Is it a reason I can ask why?” Jisung asks, and they slowly make their way down the stairs from the rooftop garden. Why does Jisung curl an arm around his arms to guide him down the stairs, half-dark from the evening? Minho doesn’t ask why Jisung does it.

“Well - I just haven’t been interested in dating, even when they tried to set me up,” Minho says, “so they want to meet the person that finally caught my eye… or that’s what they say, anyway.” 

“That’s fine,” Jisung says, and he still has not let go of Minho’s shoulders. “I did catch your eye, right?”

“Yeah, you fake boyfriend,” Minho says lightly, and laughs to cover up his quickening heartbeat. 

Like this, in the three-quarters dark stairwell between the top floor and the rooftop garden, Minho can’t quite make out Jisung’s expression; but he can make out the gleam of Jisung’s eyes. He doesn’t quite know how he has missed the colour of Jisung’s eyes - are all vampires eyes this shade? Minho can’t tell. 

“Your eyes…” Minho says, breathes it out like he isn’t allowed to move. Prey.

“I know,” Jisung returns, and there is something in his voice that reminds Minho he’s a creature of the night; something like abandoned alleyways and moonless streets. 

Jisung’s eyes glow amber in the dark of the stairwell, and it is all Minho can see. 

“You should go back,” Jisung murmurs, “it’s getting late. The nights aren’t safe for humans… or halflings.” He reaches up, tucks a strand of Minho’s hair behind his ear; his touch is soft but his hand is cold, but to Minho it's as warm as the rage of a bonfire.

“I have you, don’t I?” Minho says, and doesn’t know where his words come from. “I wear what you smell like.”

Did Jisung just take a breath in? Minho can’t hear anything over the sound of his own heartbeat, pulsing like it wants to remind him he’s full of blood. “You do,” Jisung says, and he sounds almost possessive. “You do. Maybe - with me, you will be safe, in both night and day.” Jisung’s hand now rests on his skin behind his ear, and he’ sure Jisung can feel his pulse there, fluttering.

“Not maybe,” Minho corrects, and then the lights overhead flicker on, courtesy of the clock turning seven. “Definitely safe, both night and day and the hours in between them. I have… a lot to thank you for.” He has to close his eyes for a moment, having gotten used to the darkness before and unused to the jarring brightness.

When he opens his eyes, Jisung is already looking at him.

“And I have more to thank you for,” Jisung says; Minho is close enough to smell burnt coffee, see gold in red eyes. “You don’t know what you are, but I do, and you are everything, Minho.” Jisung says his name like a gust of wind shaking a candle flame, and Minho can’t help it if blood rushes to his cheeks and he becomes that much warmer against Jisung’s cold. 

There is nothing else Minho can say. Not in this quiet stairwell with one fluorescent light bulb over them like some sort of guardian angel. Maybe if he was more open with his feelings, he would have something to say. 

But right now, they - if there is even a ‘they’ - have no suitable words. It’s not a feeling that words can easily describe.

(that night, minho thinks he can put a word to his feelings. he thinks about it because he’s warm in his sheets before he goes to sleep, and it’s a similar feeling to when jisung had his hand on his neck. it feels like comfort, and safety. it’s not a feeling that comes easily to him, but somehow when it comes to jisung - all the rules no longer apply.

when he dreams, there is a new side character.)

* * *

The weekend arrives with haste like it has never before, and Minho spends the first fifteen minutes after he wakes up panicking about what he’s going to tell his friends because he and Jisung never agreed on a story of how they started dating. 

Fortunately for him, Jisung shows up on his doorstep a full two hours before lunch, dressed nicely and hair styled and a smile hanging on his lips. 

“You’re early,” Minho says. 

“Thought we could go through a few things before we left,” Jisung says, and Minho wonders if vampires have a good sixth sense too. “Just remembered that we never said how we got together, and I think it’d be a bit suspicious if we have different stories.” 

“Or it could be funny,” Minho offers, making a joke as he is bound to do when he feels particularly nervous. He’s just lucky that people think he’s funny. 

“It would be funny if you weren’t sweating,” Jisung says, and dodges the scarf that Minho throws in his way. “Hey! Is that anyway to treat your boyfriend?” 

“My boyfriend should know how to act,” Minho retorts, and turns around to hide his cheeks because Jisung said  _ boyfriend _ . He is so predictable.

“And we should get our act together,” Jisung says, and when Minho looks at him he’s just barely stopping himself from smiling. “Have you told anyone how we got together? I haven’t told anyone because we haven’t spent enough time for your scent to be on me too, so no one has asked questions.” 

Minho wonders how long it takes for that to happen. “I told my friend that we just met because we live in the same building and then we got together after a while. But he’s nice, he doesn’t ask a lot of questions - the friends you’re going to meet together will ask a lot of questions. They’re… curious about you.”

“Terrifying,” Jisung answers, when he is the one with his fangs out in daylight. “Let’s stick with that, that’s pretty close to the truth of how we met. You can just say that… we played games together and you hang out with me in the gardens, I’m sure that’ll be enough for that.”

“If they ask something we don’t know, let me answer,” Minho offers, “and just go along with the flow, I guess. I’m sorry I dragged you into this, I -”

“Hey, I agreed to come along,” Jisung says before Minho can start apologising. “Besides, it’s nice to meet new people. Are you ready to go out? I have something to show you if we have time before lunch.”

“Almost done,” Minho assures him, and then dashes back into his bedroom to shrug on a jacket - it’s getting pretty late into the autumn now, it isn’t long before he’ll need to break out the winter coats - and then makes sure the water and food bowls are filled up for his cats. 

“I know, I know, you don’t care, but don’t knock over my things when you see me gone,” Minho chides Doongie gently as she sits on the cat tower, butt facing him. “Take care of Dori for me, okay, baby?” 

Doongie turns around slightly at that, and a flick of her tail indicates that she’s heard him. Satisfied, Minho pats her back gently and turns to Dori that’s meowing pathetically at his ankles, and Soonie, who has decided to stick her face into the cover of his night lamp. 

“Come on Soonie-yah,” Minho says, and then plucks his oldest cat out of the lamp where she’s decided to spend her time. “You too, take care of Dori while I’m out, okay? I don’t want to come back to find that Dori has trashed the entire kitchen.” 

Soonie bumps her head against Minho’s hand, and Minho pats her head softly, letting Dori jump up around his shoulders. 

“Behave, alright?” Minho says to Dori, hopes that she listens to him. “You get a treat if I come back and you’ve been good.” Once he’s content that his cats are okay for the rest of the day, he goes back out into the living room and starts filling his pockets with his phone, house keys and wallet, not taking note of how Jisung’s gaze immediately latches onto him.

Just about done, he turns around to Jisung and opens his mouth, wants to ask where they’re going - except he sees that Jisung is looking at him and suddenly it feels like all of the oxygen in his lungs have burned away. It's becoming a frighteningly common occurrence, but Minho can't think why having Jisung's eyes on him would make him react so.

“You’re wearing my jacket.” 

Jisung’s voice is calm, but the light in his eyes is not. Minho doesn’t have enough spare air to think about why that makes his pulse jump.

“Yeah - yeah I am. That’s why you gave it to me, right?”

“I don’t think my scent is that strong on that anymore,” Jisung says, and Minho feels a thrill run down his spine. 

“Well - you’ll be with me for the whole day so I don’t think that matters too much,” Minho says, but already Jisung is standing up. “What?”

“Here,” Jisung murmurs, and then he takes Minho’s wrists, holds them up until he’s nosing over them. Minho freezes in place, and he’s sure that Jisung can feel the pulse in his wrist and how it goes from calm to notching at its fastest in seconds. “In case you need to go somewhere alone,” Jisung says, looking at Minho with his mouth basically pressed against his wrist, and Minho can feel his brain shutting down. 

“You - you just - you’ve never -” Minho stammers, but doesn’t quite know what exactly it is that he wants to say.

“Scenting lasts longer on skin,” Jisung says simply, and then lets Minho’s wrists down; he doesn’t let go. “Are you ready?” 

_ Unfair _ , Minho thinks, but doesn’t voice it out loud because he’s sure he’ll say something stupid. “Yeah - yeah I am. Where are we going?” 

“The gardens.” Jisung doesn’t elaborate any further on what he means by that, so Minho follows him out the door and locks the door behind him before they take the steps up again. Heat breaks out over his skin when they ascend the stairwell that still appears in his dreams even days later, and he’s glad for the breeze that blows over him when they arrive on the rooftop garden. 

“You keep it so well,” Minho says, once again following Jisung to one of the corner beds. 

“I try my best, but it’s the plants that want to grow,” Jisung says, smiling. “Look at this! This just bloomed yesterday, so I thought you’d like to see them.”

“They’re  _ gorgeous _ ,” Minho exclaims, bends down to look at the flowers more closely. “What are they called?” 

“These are asters,” Jisung says, bends down alongside Minho too. “I planted them in the spring, and it’s just about the right time for them to start blooming. Their colours are so pretty, aren’t they?” 

“They are,” Minho says, and reaches out a finger to touch the petals. They are so soft, and the purple of the asters is something he doesn’t think he’ll be able to forget for a while yet. “Are they difficult to grow?” 

“No, no they’re not. Just the usual caring for - do you like them?” 

“I do. They’re so pretty!” 

“Perfect,” Jisung says, smiling, but doesn’t say anymore. They both stand up, and Jisung once again puts his arm around Minho’s shoulders when they go down the stairs; it doesn’t quite feel like the right time to ask why he does that, so Minho doesn’t open his mouth.

Minho already knows how the weather outside feels like, but to go out again feels wonderful. The air is cold but not chilling, and he draws Jisung's jacket around him more securely - just because he can. 

That doesn't go unnoticed by Jisung. "Are you cold?" Jisung asks, and draws Minho into his side like it's natural. "You get cold pretty easily, I've noticed." 

Minho shrugs, but doesn't make the movement strong enough to dislodge Jisung's arm from around his waist. "I guess I do? I'm used to wearing jackets and sweaters so I think my body temperature has just adapted to that. But I’m never cold for long, it’s… it’s like I can control my warmth, even though it sounds a bit funny." 

"I'll give you my whole closet of jackets," Jisung says, and Minho can't quite tell if he's being serious or not. 

"I know you have superhuman abilities, but please don't give me all of your clothes," Minho says, pushing Jisung to take a turn into the next street. "I don't want you catching a cold because of me." 

"I have never fallen ill, ever," Jisung declares. It only takes a suspicious side-eye from Minho for him to burst out laughing, and they both end up giggling together as they enter the small café. 

"Want to reconsider your statement?" Minho asks as they find a table to sit at inside the café. 

"Maybe once. Or twice," Jisung admits, "but don't tell anyone else. Wouldn't want anyone to know I get  _ sick _ ." 

"Oh, the bane of existence," Minho says, entertaining Jisung. "What would we do if you ever fall sick?" 

"Don't say that, who's going to protect you if I'm sick?" Jisung sounds absolutely balled by the thought, and Minho wonders how three weeks have already made protecting him an instinct for Jisung. 

"Stop being so dramatic, I can take care of myself," Minho chides. "Besides, my friends are going to arrive anytime soon, you're feeling okay to answer their questions? It's a bit much for some repayment thing you wanted to do for me…" 

"Like I've said," Jisung says patiently, "I don't mind. The repayment is that I keep you safe - for however long that is, I don't mind either - and if that means I have to meet your friends, that's what I'll do as well." 

"You're too nice for your own good," Minho says, and looks away before Jisung can see the red coming into his cheeks. "You remember that whatever we have - it's pretend, right? Whoever - whoever you actually date… I think they'll be so lucky to have you." 

And because Minho is looking away, he doesn't see how Jisung looks at him, how the corners of Jisung's mouth pinches down, and the way something flashes flat in his eyes. "Oh - yeah. Of course. But - don't think of that right now. I'm yours, as much as I'm protecting you. When are you friends coming?" 

Minho turns to look at Jisung, wonders why he changed the topic so abruptly. "They're supposed to be here in five minutes. Do you want to look at the menu first or anything? They have really good pasta here if you're up for that." 

"Sure! Do you want to share our food? That way we can have two dishes at once…" 

Jisung ends up flicking through the menu while Mingho replies to some texts on his phone from his friends. He isn't sure how Hyunjin and Felix will react to Jisung - he's not scared that they might disapprove of him; rather, he's worried that they'll immediately see through them that they're actually faking a relationship.  _ How does anyone in a relationship act?! _

He gets so far into his head that by the time Jisung decides he wants the burger and Felix says he and Hyunjin are just around the corner, he becomes nervous and on edge.

“They’re going to know right away that we aren’t dating,” Minho says, in a slight panic. Just the slightest. He likes to say that he's cool-headed most of the time; this time is not one of them.

“They are  _ not _ ,” Jisung says firmly putting the menu away, and then when his friends come into the café, he asks a question. “Would you mind if I kiss you, or hold your hand?” 

“Um - no,” Minho says when the question finally processes in his brain. “I don’t mind.” He says that, but his hands are suddenly sweaty and his heart is racing at twice its usual speed; he hopes Jisung can’t hear this.

“Great!” Jisung says cheerfully, and then presses a soft kiss to Minho’s jaw just as his friends sit down opposite them. 

“Oh, my god,” Hyunjin says, groaning. "So you actually  _ are _ dating, you're not joking." 

"Hey!" Minho says, feeling insulted for some reason, even though Hyunjin's just guessed a half-truth. "I  _ do _ date people, for your information." 

"Yeah," Jisung pipes up, "I'm living proof. It's nice to meet you - I'm Han Jisung, the boyfriend."

"I'm Hwang Hyunjin, it's nice to meet you too," Hyunjin says, smiling. 

"I'm Felix Lee," Felix says, sitting down and smiling too. "Hyung has been telling us about you, actually. You guys look good together!" 

"More like hyung has been so picky he hasn't dated anyone since university," Hyunjin chimes in, and yelps when Minho steps on his foot underneath the table. "Why are you hurting me? It's the truth!"

"Is it true you haven't dated anyone since university?" Jisung asks amusedly, and quite naturally slings an arm around Minho's shoulders, bringing them closer. "Why didn't you tell me that, baby?" 

" _ Shut up _ ," Minho hisses, "you don't need to know about my dating history!" 

"I absolutely do," Jisung counters. "How can I not know this about my baby?"

It's only when Jisung uses the pet name the second time around that it registers in Minho's brain - and Minho immediately feels his brain fizzle out. He forgets what he's about to say and instead leans into Jisung's shoulder, groaning as he goes. Vaguely, he hears Hyunjin and Felix sigh in the background, but he's more focused on Jisung - 

And how Jisung's arm that was curled around his shoulders squeeze tighter,  _ protective _ . 

His heart notches to a hundred and twenty again, and he wonders if Jisung can feel it against his skin. He doesn't think it'll be hard; he's so warm against Jisung's cool that even a blush is easy to tell.

“Oh, I won’t tease you anymore, angel, look up,” Jisung murmurs. This voice - is quiet. It’s a voice only meant for his ears, so Minho doesn’t know why Jisung still uses a pet name, and it only serves to make his pulse jump again, hot. “I’m sorry, baby, will you look up for me?” 

“You’re an asshole,” Minho mutters as he detaches from Jisung, and scowls at his friends who are looking at him with twin judgemental faces. “You’re  _ all  _ assholes, in fact - I’m leaving right now.” 

“You wouldn’t,” Hyunjin dismisses easily. 

“You wouldn’t miss out on the pasta,” Felix agrees. 

“Stay, for me?” Jisung says, and Minho relaxes into his side at the words. 

“God,” Felix says, after the waiter takes their orders, “I didn’t know Minho-hyung had it this bad.” 

Minho groans  _ again _ , and spends the rest of lunch sulking as Jisung coaxes him into eating. Still, he melts into playfulness again after a while, and enjoys himself as Jisung gets to talk with Hyunjin and Felix. Perhaps it’s because they find out that they’re born in the same year that they get along even better, and there really was no need for him to worry at all. 

He reminds Jisung to take his pills after lunch, and that causes Hyunjin and Felix to launch into a whole other discussion about vampires, and Jisung entertains all of their questions, giggling at their enthusiasm. After he’s answered as many questions as Hyunjin and Felix can ask, they part ways, with the two telling Minho to respond to the group chat, and telling Jisung it’s been nice meeting him. 

Minho really didn’t have anything to worry about, in the end.

It’s as much as Jisung tells him after lunch, when they’re holding hands as they walk home. Why are they even holding hands? Minho doesn’t ask, just lets Jisung hold his hand and wonder if they look like a real couple. 

“See, told you we had nothing to worry about,” Jisung says.

Minho tries not to think about how three weeks ago there wasn’t even a ‘we’ - and that even now, their ‘us’ isn’t real.

“You were right,” Minho says, and swings Jisung’s hand a little. “I was just worried, I’m like that. Thank you for -”

“You don’t need to thank me, remember?” Jisung interrupts. “We’re dating. I’m your boyfriend. You don’t thank your boyfriend for going out to meet your friends.” 

“Oh,” Minho says, and tries to keep his blush down. “O - okay.” 

Jisung smiles then, and brings Minho’s hand up to kiss the back of his hand softly. “Yours,” Jisung says, and Minho has to consciously look away from the depth of Jisung’s eyes, sultry red. “Yours, so I can protect you.” 

“You - you say that so easily,” Minho says, and keeps his eyes on the road ahead. The sun is already getting low in the day, and Minho is irresistibly reminded of Jisung’s eyes because of the red and orange.

“I say it because it’s true,” Jisung says, still so easily, and then he interlaces his fingers with Minho’s, even though they’re not pretending to anyone. They could just walk next to each other - but they don’t, and they are pressed into each other’s side closely for the whole street to look at. 

“You’re embarrassing,” Minho says, but lets it all happen anyway. 

Jisung just laughs - and this one laugh sounds like the gleam of sunshine that hits them as they walk home - and squeezes Minho’s hand. He doesn’t say anything, but Minho doesn’t think there’s anything they need to say.

They’re comfortable like this. 

And Minho has to be comfortable with this as well. After all, none of this is real, right?

* * *

Everything doesn’t change but changes a lot all at the same time after that one outing they have. Emboldened by Minho’s compliance and tendency to blush, Jisung has taken to just scenting on his skin when they have the time. 

It’s usually the weekend when it happens - when Jisung pulls Minho close and presses his nose to Minho’s wrists, almost kissing. For three weeks in a row Jisung has been doing this, and every time he never fails to make Minho flush to his roots, and he’s sure Jisung can feel his pulse racing every time he does it. Probably one of the reasons Jisung continues to do it anyway. 

The scenting is also what makes Minho realise that he’s caught feelings for Jisung. There is only so much close contact he can take before looking into Jisung's eyes and realising that they are a staple in his dreams now.

“I can’t catch feelings for him!” Minho hisses to Hyunjin over the phone. “I can’t!” 

_ “You’re dating him, I would be worried if you didn’t catch feelings,”  _ Hyunjin says flatly. 

Fuck, Minho had forgotten Hyunjin didn’t know they were faking a relationship. “Well - validate me! It’s only been… six weeks? Since we started dating? How is it possible that I caught feelings so fast?”  _ And how am I supposed to tell Jisung I caught feelings for him while we fake a relationship because he wanted to repay me? _ God, he always gets himself into all kinds of situations, and this time he doesn’t know if he’ll come out of this unscathed.

_ “You just tell him? It’s quite simple, hyung. I’d be worried if you don’t know how to communicate with your boyfriend.” _

It’s hopeless to continue this conversation when Hyunjin doesn’t know he’s faking a relationship. “So I might be emotionally… constipated. Whatever. I’m not talking to you anymore, I have work tomorrow.” 

_ “Fine. You get it off because it’s Thursday tomorrow and I have work too. You should tell your boyfriend soon, it’s not good to keep your feelings in for too long, whether they’re good or bad feelings.”  _

“... I will. Thanks, Jinnie. I’ll catch up with you later.” 

Minho absolutely will  _ not _ . Jisung will never so much as  _ hear  _ about his feelings, because he always reminds himself that their relationship is  _ not real _ and that it has an expiry date - even if he doesn’t quite know when that expiry date is. It is therefore, a huge problem that he is developing feelings.

Especially when Jisung keeps doing things that only makes his feelings grow. 

He reads the messages after work on Thursday. 

[Jisungie]

[ _ 17:55 _ ] I left a surprise for you outside your door 

[ _ 17:55 _ ] you know you asked me what flowers bloom in winter that day right 

[ _ 17:55 _ ] ^^ 

Minho had actually forgotten he asked that question. It was just a silly question he asked when they were having dinner one night together, but he didn’t expect Jisung to answer him at all.

And so, he returns home from work with bated breath to find the brightest bunch of flowers lying on his doorstep, as bright yellow as the summer sunshine. It’s a little unbelievable that something this bright can bloom as the winter gradually sets in, and he picks up the flowers with careful hands. The flowers drape down his arm, and Minho spies a small piece of paper attached to their stems.

_ ‘These are called Mahonia, and they bloomed quite early this year. I thought you’d like the colour! I’ll make jam for you in the spring when the fruits come <3 _ ’ 

Oh god.  _ Oh god _ . Minho is going to have a mental breakdown on his doorstep in his work clothes with a gorgeous bunch of flowers in his hands, and it’s because of his goddamn fake boyfriend. 

“You  _ asshole _ ,” Minho says once he gets into his apartment and he’s put the flowers in some water. “I  _ cannot _ believe you got me winter flowers just because I  _ asked  _ about them that day, you’re unbelievable.” 

_ “Well, hello to you too,” _ Jisung says, laughing over the call.  _ “Do you like the flowers? You seem pretty tired from work these days, so I thought these flowers would cheer you up.” _

“They did - they do,” Minho says, just a little breathless.  _ You do _ , he wants to say, but those words aren’t for him to say. Not right now. “Did you already plant these flowers?”

_ “Yeah I did. I have a few more that are blooming, I’ll leave them on your doorsteps one of these days. Did you just come home?” _

“I can just go to see them in your garden, you know, you don’t need to cut them and leave them for me. And yes, I just did.” 

_ “No, I want to give you flowers. Yeah. That's all.” _

“Did you… want to ask me something?” 

_ “Oh! How - how can you tell?” _

“I think I’ve gotten to know you better, Jisungie. What is it that you want to ask me?”

_ “Well, I’m going to my kids’ winter volleyball match the weekend after Chuseok, and I was wondering if you want to go with me? It’s fine if you don’t want to, I know you’re busy and all, but I thought I’d ask you and -” _

“Jisungie,” Minho says over Jisung gently, “I would love to see the match. You’re always talking about the kids, of course I’ll go with you! I’m honoured you thought to ask me.”

There’s what sounds like a sigh of relief over the phone, and Minho wonders why his presence would make so much of a difference to Jisung.  _ “Thank you, baby. I’ll send you the details later, and I’ll give you a rundown of volleyball in case you don’t know. Oh! And I’ll pick you up, yeah? So don’t worry your pretty head about anything, just dress warmly.” _

“Okay,” Minho says, and doesn’t even question why Jisung uses pet names with him so easily even when they’re alone. “I need to go now, I have to shower and eat, I’ll talk to you later?” 

_ “Yes, yes of course! Go and take care of yourself, angel, I’ll talk to you later.” _

The call ends then, and Minho is left to lean against the bar counter and stare at the makeshift vase of bright yellow flowers that are now his. He doesn’t know what to do - with his flowers and his feelings. 

“Han Jisung, what have you done to me?” Minho murmurs under his voice, and touches the petals of the flowers softly, feels like he’s touching Jisung’s laughter. 

* * *

Even when he goes back home for the  _ chuseok  _ holidays alone, Jisung is still on his mind. He remembers Jisung in the flowers by the side of the road, in the red of the sky when he sets out at dawn, in the bright of the overhead early winter sun. Everything reminds him of Jisung, and perhaps that is why he can’t hide the fact that he’s got feelings even to his mother’s face. 

“You look so much better,” His mother coos when he arrives home. “Happy these days? Work is good? I so wish I could call you more often, but the line never works properly for us…”

“And I keep telling you to call the telephone company so you can get the line working,” Minho says patiently, starts bringing out some gifts he had brought from the city centre to give to his parents. “Everything is good,  _ eomma _ , don’t worry about me. Are you and  _ appa  _ okay? Where is he?”

“Your  _ appa _ is in the garden, he’s enjoying the fresh air and sunlight,” Minho’s mother says, and fusses over the gifts that Minho brought back. “Oh, you don’t need to buy us red ginseng, it’s so expensive around  _ Chuseok _ , you know that darling…” 

“It’s okay, I got it before the prices went up, and there was a sale for some reason. I’ll go see  _ appa _ now,” Minho says, and slides open the patio doors to see his father. 

“I could hear your  _ eomma  _ saying how you shouldn’t have bought the red ginseng from a mile away,” His father says as soon as Minho steps into the garden. He’s sitting on the bench facing the small pond, and the sight makes Minho smile; he had always remembered his father sitting like this since he was a child. “What have you brought back this time?” 

“Just the red ginseng, and some of the white vinegar I know you like to use in cooking. How’s your back been,  _ appa _ ?” 

“Oh, it’s been both good and bad, you know,” His father says, and Minho sits down beside him, feeling like he’s once again a child. “I can hear more happiness in your voice these days, Minho-yah. You’re doing well in the city?” 

“Yeah,” Minho says, and he’s smiling before he can even help it, “I am.”

He can’t keep his secret for long, and it’s over dinner that he spills the happiness that his parents can see on his face and hear in his voice. 

“I… I met someone,” Minho says, and feels a little bad about it. “We’ve been dating for about two months, but - but he’s why I’m happier.” 

“Can we meet him soon?” His mother asks over the sound of his father accidentally upturning his bowl of rice. “Did he also go back to his family for  _ Chuseok _ ?”

“Yeah,” Minho says, and helps his father to replace the bowl of rice. 

“Will you visit again during the Christmas holidays with him?” His father asks, and Minho makes a sound like he’s embarrassed. “What’s with that? I want to meet the man that has made you so happy, I’m sure it’ll be a good time.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Minho says under his breath, but makes a note to text Jisung anyway.

Spending a few days away from Jisung is both good and bad, and Minho only comes to a firmer conclusion over  _ Chuseok _ that he really likes Jisung - enough to tell his parents, and enough to text Jisung that his parents want to meet him. It also doesn’t help that Jisung responds enthusiastically, tells him that he’ll definitely tag along for the Christmas visit, and often sends photos of his hometown to Minho for no other reason than ‘ _ I saw this and thought you would like this _ ’ and ‘ _ I miss you _ ’.

It’s terribly unfair, but it’s not like Minho wants to say anything - he’s stuck halfway between knowing he likes Jisung and also knowing that their relationship is  _ still  _ fake.

Yet Minho can’t help but feel like it’s getting less and less fake by the day. Two months in and with no sign of an expiry date mentioned by either one of them and with the way they’re always stuck next to each other, Minho can’t help but wonder  _ why _ . 

Why is Jisung always using pet names even when they’re alone? Why do they hold hands and hug even when they have no reason too? Why does Jisung introduce him as his boyfriend even when they don’t need to pretend they’re dating? 

Minho returns to the city after  _ chuseok _ with the ever-present reminder that his feelings for Jisung only grow deeper by the day. It only worsens when he comes back to find another bunch of flowers waiting on his doorstep, and he picks them up with a sigh full of affection.

‘ _ Welcome back <3 These are daphne flowers, and the pink reminded me of how you blush when we’re together. I’ll come over with takeout later as promised~’ _

Minho is already smiling even before he finishes reading the note, and the paper even smells like the heady fragrance of the daphnes. Fighting with the door to open with an armful of flowers, Minho drops his keys twice before he manages to open the door, and he coos when his cats come dashing at him. 

“Oh, hello, babies,” Minho says, unable to see them at all, not with how he has his hands full with pink flowers, “has Inhye-noona been feeding you guys? Let me put these flowers down and I’ll cuddle you, alright?”

Minho ends up spending the entire time until dinner playing with his cats, and even Doongie climbs down from her typical perch to sit on his head while he scratches Soonie’s chin and Dori climbs all over him. It had been good to go home to see his parents, but he’s also missed his cats - and when Jisung arrives with their food, him too.

“You know, we’ve been together for two months?” Jisung says abruptly after they’ve had dinner. His head is on Minho’s lap, and Dori is on his chest.

“Have we?” Minho says when he has been counting each week as it ends. He knows it’s been two months. 

“Yeah,” Jisung says, and then he’s looking up at Minho. Like this, there is even more gold in the red of his eyes, reflecting the lights of the living room, and Minho wonders how easy it would be for him to lean down and kiss Jisung like this. “We should go out together somewhere.”

“What, like a date?” 

“A proper date, not our takeout dinners,” Jisung agrees. “I want to take you somewhere nicer for a change. Have we even been out together like this?” 

“I don’t think so,” Minho says; he doesn’t add that it might be because they’re in a fake relationship.

“After the match, I’ll take you out for dinner,” Jisung says. “Saturday. Dress warmly, I -”

“Yeah, yeah I still have the note you gave to me,” Minho murmurs, brushes the hair out of Jisung’s eyes and thinks about how in a different time he would cup Jisung’s cheek; now, his hand falls to the side and he just looks back at Jisung. 

“I’ll pick you up,” Jisung repeats anyway, and the gold swirls in his eyes. “Dress warmly.”

Minho can’t look away. 

* * *

As promised, Jisung comes to pick him up on Saturday morning, and when he does, he brings another flower with him. 

“These are snowdrops,” Jisung says, and tucks the twin blossoms into Minho’s hair. The touch is almost loving, full of affection, and Minho can’t help how his lips part in surprise. “It looks good in your hair,” Jisung murmurs, and he’s smiling. “My snowdrop, you look so pretty.” 

“You haven’t even been here for a minute, and you’re full of it already,” Minho says, but steps out of his apartment and lets Jisung take him down the stairs to the car park. He leaves the flowers in his hair, hopes that they don’t fall out; doesn’t start to think why he let Jisung put them in his hair in the first place.

“So, do you remember anything about volleyball?” Jisung asks when he starts the car, and jacks up the heating when he sees Minho pull the sleeves of his jacket down. 

“A bit, but it’d be nice if you went over everything,” Minho admits. 

He doesn’t tell Jisung that he actually remembers most things about volleyball, but he said that just to see Jisung light up and start explaining everything in detail, including random snippets and stories of the team he trains at the university he works at. It’s so incredibly endearing, and Minho spends the whole drive laughing and nodding at Jisung’s tales. 

By the time they reach the university, it’s already full of cars and people, so they get out and start heading towards the court where the match is being held. 

Like magnets, they draw into each other’s side again, and Minho reaches for Jisung’s hand. Easy. Everything is so easy, and it hits Minho a couple minutes later that he was the one that reached for Jisung’s hand first. When had this become so easy between them? 

“Coach!” Some people shout, and then they start running over. As they approach, Minho can see that they’re wearing the volleyball team uniform, and supposes that they’re from the team that Jisung is coaching. 

“My kids,” Jisung says, laughing, and squeezes Minho’s hand. “They’re enthusiastic, I’m sure you can tell.”

Minho laughs with him, and lets go of Jisung’s hand so the kids can swamp him. It’s adorable, and Minho smiles as he watches them, honoured that Jisung even thought of asking him to come to watch the match. There is so much that he wants to tell Jisung - but right now, as Jisung laughs and asks the kids how they are, he thinks all of that can wait for another day. 

“Oh, coach, is that your boyfriend? The one you always talk about?” One of the kids pipes up abruptly, and there are seven pairs of eyes on him all of a sudden. 

“Yeah he is,” Jisung says, and it is simple. He walks over and pulls Minho close to him, takes his hand again and smiles at the kids. “This is my boyfriend, please be nice to him - and don’t tell him all the embarrassing things I’ve done in front of you!” 

Perhaps this is payback for when Hyunjin and Felix told Jisung about his embarrassing times when they went on that hangout weeks ago, and Minho ends up having a lot of fun before the match starts, exchanging stories with the kids, and during the match too, with Jisung’s live commentary in his ear and the game tense in front of his eyes. 

This is maybe the best that he can get - Jisung’s hand in his own, and his voice in his ear, tersely hoping that his kids serve well this round. It is too much than what he deserves, and at the same time not enough. 

At the first volleyball match Minho is invited to, he realises that one, he would really like to play volleyball again; two, Jisung can actually pick him up and spin him around because his kids won; and three - 

That he likes Han Jisung very, very much.

(jisung fulfills his promise to take him out to a nice place after the match. they end up in a small restaurant with vines lining the picture frame windows, and jisung cups his face to adjust the snowdrops in his hair after they place their orders. his touch is soft even when his hands are calloused from years of volleyball, and minho can’t help but reach up with his own hand to touch jisung’s hand.

it feels domestic, and it feels like they’re on a real date.

would this be what they might be like if they had never agreed to pretending to date? minho can’t think about that - that other reality is a bit far away from him right now, especially when their meals arrive and they end up sharing their food anyway. he wipes at the corner of jisung’s mouth and lets jisung feed him. 

it’s way too familiar for people who are supposedly not dating.

minho doesn’t know what to think about all of this anymore. he’ll just enjoy himself - everything else is something that he can leave for another day, including the realisation that he likes jisung.)

* * *

_ “I am so sorry, but can you come and pick me up? My car just broke down and god, why did this happen today, I really just -” _

“Hey, hey, baby, calm down,” Minho says, pressing his phone to his ear using his shoulder. “Have you already finished work? I can come and pick you up in half an hour, is that okay? I’m at SPO right now waiting for some files.” 

_ “Yeah, that’s more than okay. I need to call the mechanics and everything anyway. I’m so sorry, snowdrop, I know you’re busy this week.” _

“You will never be trouble to me,” Minho says firmly. “I need to go now, but I’ll be there in thirty minutes to pick you up. We’ll be okay, baby, I’ll be there, alright?” 

_ “Thank you, snowdrop. I’ll see you later.” _

Minho doesn’t have enough time to think about why Jisung’s car suddenly broke down, but when he finally leaves his office and starts the drive to Jisung’s university, he hopes that Jisung is alright. Resisting the urge to make a call to Jisung right now, he focuses on getting there in time and it’s only when he turns into the university parking that he makes the call to Jisung. 

“I’m in the parking lot,” Minho says once Jisung picks up. “Where are you?”

_ “I’m at the volleyball court. Do you want to come and see the kids? I accidentally mentioned that you were coming to pick me up and now they’re… well - I think you can hear them -”  _ Minho indeed can, there is some clamouring in the background which he assumes are the kids,  _ “- so do you want to come along? It won’t take long, just a few minutes.” _

“I’m coming,” Minho says, laughing when he hears the cheers in the background. “The court is just around the corner, right? Oh - did you call the mechanic?” 

_ “Yep, that’s it. I can see you on your way from here! I also called the mechanic, but they said I need to tow my car first and only then they can fix it, so it’s not a quick fix.” _

“I can bring you here and pick you up every day until your car is fixed,” Minho offers. “It’s not far away from where I work at, so it won’t be a big deal.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you,” Jisung says to him, even though he hasn’t hung up on the call yet. “My snowdrop.”

“You’re appalling,” Minho returns, but goes into Jisung’s arms. For once, Jisung’s skin is warm - from the sun and exercise. It feels good, and he makes a note to himself that he should go and bother Jisung when he’s up in the gardens, because the feeling of sun-warmed skin against his is something he would gladly give up time for.

“You’re way too pretty to be Coach’s boyfriend,” One of the kids say - but it’s not someone Minho remembers from the match. He frowns, turns to see who said it.

“Hey,” Jisung says, and already Minho can hear warning in his voice. “Behave, Sungho.”

The kid - Sungho - shrugs. “I’m just saying, Coach, I -”   
  


Quite clearly not listening to a single word Sungho is saying, Jisung pulls Minho against him, arm secure around his waist. There’s a look in Jisung’s eyes that Minho has come to love, and when Jisung’s eyes flick down to his mouth, gold in the red, Minho can't think about anything else. 

“Kiss me,” Minho whispers, just for Jisung to hear. 

He thinks he sees Jisung smile - but then he closes his eyes and then he feels Jisung press their lips together, chaste and sweet. Everything - everything that he has been repeating to himself for the last two months, that he shouldn't catch feelings, that this is all pretend, that Jisung isn't actually his - it all flies out of his head. 

There is nothing he can think about except the feeling of Jisung's lips against his, and they're pressed close enough for Minho to know that Jisung can feel his heart pounding in his chest. 

" _ Coach _ !" Some kids whine, and slowly, the background noise of reality starts filtering into their ears again. Even then, his eyes are slow to open, and when he does, Jisung is already looking at him, their mouths still within kissing distance.

"You're beautiful," Jisung says. His words end on a lilt, like he still has things he wants to say, but he doesn't add anything else to his sentence. "Let's go home," Jisung adds, and when he smiles Minho can almost feel it against his mouth. 

"Let's go home," Minho agrees, and never lets go of Jisung's hand.

* * *

It's Jisung who starts it. 

It's Jisung who backs Minho up against his own front door, palms flat behind his shoulders and leaning in until Minho can smell his warmth and burnt coffee. 

It's Jisung who presses a kiss against the lobe of his ear, the line of his jaw, the tip of his nose. 

It's Jisung who looks at him like he's everything, and lets Minho see his world in the redness of his eyes.

But - it's Minho who opens his front door, Minho who tugs Jisung in, Minho who pulls Jisung close to him and whispers  _ please please please  _ in Jisung's ear like it'll grant him all the wishes in the world.

It's Minho who lets himself be pressed up against the wall of his own living room as Jisung kisses him once, and twice, and again and again and again until their lips are slick and Minho has his hands twisted in the end of Jisung's shirt. 

It's Minho who nods when Jisung tugs at the open collar of his shirt, and threads his fingers through Jisung's hair when Jisung starts sucking at the junction of his neck, forming bruises there that Minho will have to hide for days. 

It's Minho who whines and chases Jisung's lips and gives the prettiest sounds when Jisung bites down on his bottom lip and pulls slightly.

In the end - it's Minho who lets Jisung stay.

  
  
  



	3. the instinct to love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: description of minho passing out

_do you think if i loved you enough_

_i would be able to leave it on your skin when i touched you?_

* * *

It all starts when Minho gets out of bed on a bright Tuesday morning and his legs give way. He had only wanted to get up and reach for his phone that was blaring his alarm, and now he’s suddenly sitting on the carpet of his bedroom with his legs underneath him and the alarm still going off in the background. 

Minho blinks a few times, then shakily gets up off the floor and turns his alarm off. 

“Fucking legs,” Minho murmurs under his breath, then makes his way into the bathroom, taking his time as he goes. He’s sure that it’s just his legs being stupid, as it is prone to do sometimes because of the accident that he was involved in as a child, as well as his numerous ankle injuries throughout the years. It doesn’t quite cross his mind that he’s also had less energy for the past few days, and he’s been running himself into the ground lately with the big case he’s been dealing with at work. 

None of that quite occurs to him. He goes about his normal routine of getting ready, feeling weaker and weaker as he goes; but he doesn’t want to call in sick to work today – he’s already taking holidays off for the winter soon when he’s going back to visit his parents again. 

Minho forces himself to get to work, but when he does get to work he has to brace himself on his desk when he arrives, feeling so weak that he rethinks his decision about coming in to work. 

“Are you sure you should be in today?” Chan asks, appearing beside his desk with what looks like the files Minho has been chasing for. “You really don’t look good, I don’t think you should be in today…” 

“Deadlines – and SPO recordings,” Minho clips out, feels like he can only say this much before he throws up. Or passes out. His body can’t quite decide yet. 

“You’re going home to rest for a day, and that won’t have much of an impact on the deadline,” Chan says firmly. “I’ll go and bully SPO for the recordings, and you can check your emails if you’re so desperate to work.” There is logic in his statement, and Minho tries to steady himself, stand up a little straighter. “Besides, when does anyone around here meet their deadlines? Not when SPO doesn’t want to release the recordings we need for the investigation.”

“SPO can get fucked,” Minho mutters, and immediately regrets it when all his breath leaves him in a go.

“Is there anyone I can call to pick you up? Before you pass the hell out and I have to call HR that our in-house advisor just dropped to the ground ten minutes into work?” 

Minho’s head is spinning, and he feels both light-headed and nauseous at the same time. “I’m – ah… my boyfriend –“

“Oh – Jisung-ssi? I don’t have his number, Minho-yah, I –“

“Here,” Minho says, fumbling with his phone as his hands shale, and he just barely manages to open Jisung’s contact information before his knees are buckling once again like a perfect replay of this morning. “Call – call Jisungie please, he’s – he’s the only one –“

“Okay, okay, I’ve got you,” Chan says, and even though he’s trying his best to sound calm there is a tinge of panic coming into his voice as he takes Minho’s phone and puts his arms around Minho’s torso, slowly lowering him to the ground as Minho’s legs lose their strength. “I’ll call HR and your boyfriend now, yeah?”

“Not… my boyfriend,” Minho slurs, and black spots are swimming in his vision; he doesn’t quite know what he’s saying.

“What?” 

“Love him but – not… not my boyfriend…” 

“Minho? Minho! Stay awake –  _ fuck _ , Minho – Jieun-noona! Please, can you help call HR, Minho’s passed out –“

Nothing else quite registers to him anymore. The last thing he remembers is Chan’s arms around him, and the sounds of a dial tone ringing somewhere far, far away. Then – emptiness. 

It takes a while before he comes to once more. The first thing he does notice is the smell – it’s a scent that he’s familiar with; it’s one that he’s come to long for during the nights when he is too alone. The smell surrounds him like a blanket, lulling him back to sleep, and it embeds itself as comfort and protection in his consciousness.

He doesn’t know, but he makes a small sound, something like Dori would make as he settles back deeper into sleep. He doesn’t know, but his head lolls to the side of the seat headrest, and a familiar hand comes to move his head into a more comfortable position gently so he doesn’t strain his neck. He doesn’t know, but the same familiar hand cups his cheek softly and brushes his hair away from his eyes, then leaves to settle on his thigh instead. 

Minho doesn’t know any of it. He’s fast asleep.

* * *

He wakes up to a dark room with just a digital clock that spells out the time – three in the afternoon. He’s also in an unfamiliar room, and he sits up slowly from the soft sheets and the softer pillows, still feeling like he’s taken to a hit to his head. 

There is something familiar about the place that he’s in, and Minho tries to place it. His head still hurts and he can’t quite pick it out until he sees it – a black coat with white stripes splashed across it, as familiar to him as it is a piece of his own clothing. 

That’s Jisung’s jacket. Which means – that he is in Jisung’s bedroom. Which also means that Chan had indeed called Jisung for him and Jisung had actually left work to come and pick him up. He tries not to think about what he said before he collapsed at work, or how he’ll probably need to explain himself to Chan, or the amount of trouble that he must have caused Jisung.

Carefully, he gets out of bed. He’s in shorts now, but he’s still wearing his dress shirt, and slowly makes his way to the bedroom door on shaky legs.

The door opens quietly, leading out into the small hallway before it opens to the kitchen and living room, and he doesn’t make any noise as he walks out. He’s planning on just to find Jisung and thank him before leaving, but all of that goes out the window when he sees Jisung in the kitchen - cooking. 

It’s a wonder that Minho didn’t notice the smell of food cooking earlier; perhaps it’s because he was surrounded by the warmth and burnt coffee of Jisung’s scent that he didn’t notice the smell of what seems like soup. Jisung is in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot over the stove, and for a moment Minho wonders if this is what he would see every day if they were indeed in an actual relationship.

Their not-real relationship is well over three months at this point, and Minho doesn’t quite know how to tell Jisung that he has developed real feelings. It seems so expected that he would, but the courage and recklessness that had bolstered him into this agreement has long left him, and has now been replaced by affection and tenderness for his not-boyfriend boyfriend.

But there is also the matter that neither of them have addressed – the kisses they exchanged almost two weeks ago. Minho doesn’t want to break the silence, but the way Jisung had looked at him when they were kissing – he thinks about that way more often than he probably should. The kissing had also marked a new point in their dodgy relationship, and they’re both more open and free with their affection and skinship than ever; it doesn’t help that this only widens the grey area of their ambiguous relationship.

“What are you doing up?” 

Minho snaps back to reality, and smiles as Jisung turns the fire low and walks over to him. Like it’s instinct, his hands move to touch Minho – one hand on his waist, the other behind his neck; Minho leans into his touch, reaches a hand up to cup Jisung’s cheek.

“You should be resting,” Jisung chides gently, “your co-worker told me you collapsed. How are you feeling?”

“Just a bit run down, I think,” Minho says, and leans up to press a kiss to Jisung’s cheek. “I’ll be fine, you know my legs are stupid. I’m sorry I made you leave work to come pick me up, you don’t even have your car…” 

“It’s not a big deal,” Jisung says, eyes darting all over Minho’s face like he’s checking if Minho really is alright. “You’re important to me too. I just used your car to get us both home, and I changed you into shorts. I hope you don’t mind, you were so fast asleep.” 

“I don’t mind at all,” Minho assures him, tries his best to ignore how he is apparently also important to Jisung. “Thank you for coming to pick me up. And cooking. And taking care of me.” 

“You don’t need to thank me for doing these things,” Jisung says. Again – the lilt at the end of his sentence, like he hasn’t finished his sentence. 

Minho doesn’t question it; how can he, when he has things that he also cannot say to Jisung? 

“I want to,” Minho ends up saying. “I always want to be thankful for the things that you do for me.”  _ Because we are not real. Because this was meant to be a repayment. Because we have an expiry date.  _ “You’ll let me say thank you, won’t you?” 

“I accept thanks in another way too,” Jisung says, just the tiniest hint of teasing in his voice. 

“Oh?” Minho murmurs, but already he is leaning in and angling his face. 

It is easy. Like everything else with Jisung, kissing him is easy. Almost like an instinct, their lips find each other, pressing softly. There is nothing to it; it just for the sake of kissing that their mouths are pressed together. They aren’t pretending to anyone; they aren’t showing anyone; they aren’t trying to convince anyone that they’re together. 

They are just - kissing. 

And Minho kisses Jisung because he likes Jisung, of that he is certain; but he doesn’t know why Jisung kisses him back as well.

Later that evening, Minho manages to convince Jisung to take him to the rooftop gardens. He whines about it, says that he wants some fresh air and that it’ll do him good, and Jisung finally caves when he presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

“On the condition that you’re wrapped up, and you let me help you get up there,” Jisung says firmly. He won’t budge on this, so Minho agrees, already eager to get up to the rooftop gardens.

He leans onto Jisung as they go up the stairs, body covered in a fluffy hoodie that Jisung had pulled out for him. Even though his legs shake a little as he makes his way up the stairs, he isn’t afraid about collapsing - Jisung’s arm is around his waist and he knows that if he ever fell Jisung would catch him, without a doubt.

The air is wonderfully cold, and carries the faint fragrance of the different flowers and plants that Jisung has planted. Jisung deposits him on the one bench in the garden, and then goes around the back of the bench to rest his hands on Minho’s shoulders as they look over the garden and the city lights.

“Thank you for bringing me up,” Minho murmurs after he’s had his fill of the fresh air and neon signs. 

“You said it would make you feel better, so of course I did,” Jisung replies, and it’s so natural how he replies, how natural his protective instinct is. The simple promise that they had made months ago - that Jisung’s scent made him feel protected and safe - has now evolved into Jisung taking care of him like this.

Minho wishes he could read their future in the sway of the plants in the night breeze and the flicker of the evening city lights. At least he would know whether his ending with Jisung ends in happiness or heartbreak - but even if he did know, what would he do? He thinks his happiness right now is more important that any safeguarding his future self might have wanted him to do. 

And besides - Jisung's hands are warm and steady on his shoulders.  _ I'm not going anywhere _ . 

He reaches up, puts his own hand on Jisung's.  _ I'm not either. _

The only witnesses to that night of theirs are the flowers, and the lights. If Jisung bends down to kiss Minho, only they know about that. If Minho sinks to his knees to pick up a fallen flower and then presses it into Jisung's palm, that's for their memory only. If Jisung slips an arm around Minho to guide him down the stairs, just like he does every time - 

That's still for them to know only. 

* * *

“So,” Minho says, that Sunday morning over coffee with Chan. 

“So indeed,” Chan says amusedly, leaning back in his chair. 

“Thanks for that day,” Minho says, just barely suppressing a groan. “I can’t believe I had to take the rest of the week off.”

“Oh, don’t talk about work when we’re finally hanging out together outside work for once,” Chan says, and pushes the slice of cake towards Minho. “Eat. You probably need the sugar, but you do look a lot better now.”

“Thanks,” Minho says, and tries to think about how he wants to start his conversation. “Um – so, about what I said before I fucking passed out.” 

Chan pauses at that. “You know, you don’t need to explain anything to me. I won’t judge you, but if you need someone to talk to, I can be that person for you.” 

Minho feels tears burn at the back of his eyes all of a sudden; sometimes he forgets that he’s known Chan for years. “Well – I think I want to explain everything to you.”

“I’ll listen.”

“So – about three months ago, when I first came into work with Jisungie’s jacket – that was when we started faking a relationship. It’s a long story, but basically I gave him shelter for a night once, and he wanted to repay me. I said that I’d think about it, but then one day he loaned me his jacket and because of his scent, I had less trouble with people overall.” 

“Like, no one called or yelled at you? That’s good, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah, exactly! I mean, it isn’t like it was really bad like it was last time, but it was even better, because less people looked at me. So I thought that this could be my repayment, like for a few days or something and then It would be done. But Jisungie said that vampires don’t really leave their scents on anyone apart from their partners, so he said that I could borrow his jackets and tell anyone who asked questions that we were dating."

“And it started getting too much?” Chan asks, hazarding a guess. 

“I started catching feelings, actually,” Minho admits. “I really, really like him now, and I don’t know how to tell him. And it’s not just that – he… he acts like a real boyfriend, like we’re real. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m afraid to ask because I’m scared it’ll end, but I also want to ask because it’s not fair to him if he doesn’t know.”

“I saw how Jisung-ssi came to pick you up,” Chan says, and it’s like he’s starting a new story of his own. “He didn’t tell anyone that you guys were dating, but we could all see it. He came over in his work clothes – he’s the PE assistant, isn’t he? – and he immediately went for you. He carried you and everything and helped you to pack your things up and then thanked us and drove you home. He looked so worried – he  _ sounded  _ so worried over the phone when I called you.” 

“That’s just Jisungie,” Minho says, “he’s really nice –“

“He also answered the phone with ‘my snowdrop’ so I think this isn’t as fake as you think it is,” Chan finishes, and laughs when Minho splutters at that. “Seriously – I’m not going to butt in on whatever is going on between you and your boyfriend, but I think you need to talk to him. I don’t think this is as fake as you guys agreed on at the beginning.”

“What have I gotten myself into,” Minho groans, and nearly knocks over the cup of coffee in front of him. “I know what you’re saying but I don’t know how to tell him all of this. I can tell him other things but I can’t tell him about this, and it’s so…” Minho sighs and no longer knows how to continue.

“Don’t think too much about it,” Chan says, steadies Minho’s cup for him. “You’re just going to stress yourself out even more. Things will happen as they need to, and all in due time.” 

Minho hums, but he doesn’t agree or disagree with Chan. Their expiry date is still nowhere near in sight, yet Minho can’t help but think that the day will creep up on him out of the blue and punch him in the gut. There’s always a kind of guilt in his chest that’s only been growing heavier and heavier as they continue their not-real relationship, and it’s because he can’t tell Jisung about these things, that he has these feelings for him. It feels like there’s a part of him that he can’t open to Jisung because if he does, everything safe and good will be torn away from him. 

And he’s so used to Jisung being around him.

He’s already used to having dinner with Jisung. He’s already used to reaching out beside him and having Jisung’s hand to hold. He’s used to smelling warmth and burnt coffee and knowing that today, he’ll be happy too. He’s used to the comfort and familiarity that Jisung brings with his presence, and he’s too selfish to let Jisung go but at the same time too cowardly to tell Jisung about all of this. 

And the worst of it all – is that Jisung can see right through him. 

When they have dinner together that night, Jisung knows he’s upset. Jisung knows he isn’t feeling like how he usually is. Jisung knows all of that but he doesn’t pry, doesn’t ask anything. He tips more meat into Minho’s bowl and then lets Minho settle close to him when they’ve finished washing up the dishes. 

“My snowdrop,” Jisung murmurs, kissing the top of Minho’s head. “You’ll be okay, angel, whatever it is. I’ll be here.” 

Minho hums, because it’s the only thing he can voice without bursting into tears.  _ Will you even be here after I confess all my feelings to you? _ Minho asks in his head, and can’t help but sink into Jisung’s side even further. 

It’s strange, the situation that he’s found himself in. And a little funny, because he likes to laugh at his own misery. The person that brings him so much happiness – is the same person that is causing him so much confusion and pain right now. Jisung doesn’t even know what he’s doing, and they both agreed on this relationship to be fake in the first place. 

Minho turns, presses a kiss to the corner of Jisung’s mouth, and lets himself be deceived for another night. 

One more night. He wants to be selfish for one more night. 

* * *

Compared to the last time when he took these roads, Minho is a lot more nervous this time around when he goes home to visit his parents. It’s probably because Jisung is tagging along this time – by express courtesy of his parents – and he doesn’t know how to tell his parents that his boyfriend is actually  _ not _ his boyfriend. 

None of this however, seems to occur to Jisung. 

“Do they know I’m a vampire? Should I have worn something nicer? I shouldn’t have dyed my hair like this last week, I look like a delinquent –“

“Yes, they know you’re a vampire, and they’re asking if you need anything special for your meals, so they don’t mind. No, I like what you’re wearing, and no, my parents won’t care that your hair looks like a zebra crossing right now,” Minho assures him, tugs at the leather jacket Jisung is wearing. “I can’t believe you’re wearing a leather jacket under your winter coat so you can keep your aesthetic.”

“I’ve got a reputation to keep, snowdrop,” Jisung argues. “I might as well live up to it –“

“What, bastard vigilante vampire? You don’t need to dress the part when you’re already like that in how you act. Now – do you want to put music on or shall I drive in silence?” 

Easily distracted, Jisung starts fiddling with his phone to connect the Bluetooth and choose a song, allowing Minho to pull out of the parking lot of their apartment and start driving out of the city. Once Jisung’s settled on a song, he starts telling Minho about some funny stories from his university team, keeping Minho entertained for the length of the drive. 

Having Jisung with him makes even a long drive enjoyable. It takes about an hour and a half for him to drive to Gimpo, but with Jisung it seems half of that time with the new music that Jisung introduced to him as well as the stories that he shares. 

The warmth of his car starts to take on the undertone of burnt coffee - Minho thinks he'll enjoy his drives even long after Jisung isn't in the same place with him.

It's just before lunchtime when they arrive at Minho's childhood home, and by the time he parks the car, his mother is already out of the house and greeting the both of them. 

"Minho-yah! You look so good, darling, have you been keeping well after you feel ill that time?" 

"Yeah, Jisungie helped take care of me," Minho says, lets his mother fuss over him for a few minutes more. "We brought some things for you,  _ eomma _ , Jisungie insisted."

With that, she lets go of Mingo and turns to Jisung instead, approaching him and going in for a hug.“Oh, you’re the Jisung that makes my son so happy,” Minho’s mother coos, and Minho groans, embarrassed. 

“ _ Eomma _ !” 

“I’m happy if he’s happy,” Jisung says, smiling at Minho’s mother. “It’s nice to meet you, I can only hope Minho has been saying nice things about me.”

They're ushered into the house with the excuse of the weather that's getting colder, and Jisung kisses the tip of his nose in the hallway of his childhood home. 

Jisung – gets on really well with his parents, and it looks like his parents are pleased too. Even in this moment of relief that his parents don’t hate Jisung, it is marred by the fact that he wonders how disappointed his parents will be if they find out he’s not in a real relationship with Jisung. But that’s a question for another day, and for now, he just smiles, has lunch with his parents, and shows Jisung the garden when they’re done. 

“It’s already winter so nothing’s really growing,” Minho says. 

“Not true, there are many things that can grow in winter,” Jisung says, then reaches for Minho’s hand. “Like snowdrops.” He smiles at Minho then, slow and sweet and soft, and Minho thinks about how easy it would be to take a step closer and kiss him. 

“Like snowdrops,” Minho agrees, and like instinct, he looks at Jisung, finds the red of his eyes and searches for the flecks of gold in them. 

“My snowdrop,” Jisung says after a moment, and then he dips in close, kisses Minho gently like that. 

“Yours,” Minho says, means his whole heart with the one word he says. “Just as much as you are mine.” 

Jisung smiles – Minho feels it against his mouth – and he opens his mouth a little, maybe wants to say something, but then nothing comes out. There is only his breath against Minho’s mouth, and then he presses another kiss there, warm. 

It’s December, and the months will only get colder, but Minho has never felt warmer standing here in his barren childhood garden with Jisung in his arms. 

It’s two hours before they leave that Minho suddenly remembers one of the reasons he had wanted to come home again. 

“ _ Eomma _ ,” Minho starts carefully as he hovers behind his mother who is cutting up some apples. “Jisungie said when he first met me that I wasn’t quite a full human. But – that’s nonsense, right? He was just playing a fool, I’m sure of it –“

“Oh, you’re not human,” Minho’s mother says, almost a tad too cheerfully for her own good. “Here, have an apple, darling.” 

“What do you mean I’m not human!” Minho squawks, takes the apple anyway. 

“You’re a halfling, but not a traditional one,” Minho’s mother says. “You’re half-fae, darling. Your  _ appa _ and I are a quarter-fae each, but different types of fae. We didn’t know how that would end up for you – but you always grew up normal, and by the time you showed some signs of magic you were already placed well and happy in your school, so we decided not to move you around.”

“I’m half-fae?!” Minho says, and reaches a hand out to steady himself on the kitchen counter. “And you didn’t tell me for – twenty-five years?!  _ Eomma _ !” 

“It didn’t seem very important in the short term,” Minho’s mother admits. “We’re sorry, darling. By the time we wanted to tell you, you had already gone off to university, and it didn’t feel right to tell you such an important thing over the phone.” 

“… What kind of fae am I?” Minho asks, and feels strangely calm for someone who’s just found out he’s half-fae. 

“You’re a quarter fire fae, and the other quarter is immortal fae,” Minho’s mother says. “I think you know what abilities those faes have, right?”

“Oh, god,” Minho says, leaning back against the counter and biting at his apple aggressively. “Yeah, I do. The fire fae are always warm, and can control warmth as they like, right? And the immortal fae - the old gods. The ones that commanded attention… is that why I kept getting stared at in the street?” 

" _ What _ ?!"

"Among… other things."

“You were being stared at in the street?” Minho’s mother says, sounding appalled. “Why didn’t you tell us, baby?” 

“I don’t think there’s anything you can do,  _ eomma _ .”

“Well - true - but is it still bad? Do you still get stared at?”

“Oh! No - not really. It’s… it’s because of Jisungie. He - well, he scents me and his scent keeps people from staring. Something about being part of a pack and being safe, so people are less likely to want to cause trouble with me.” 

“I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you, darling,” Minho’s mother says. “We didn’t want to cause you more stress when you were in university. I don’t think this changes things too much for you, right?” 

“It doesn’t,” Minho agrees, but whether he has come to terms with this is another thing entirely. 

“And I’m so happy you found Jisungie,” She adds. “He takes care of you so well, gives you food first and makes sure you’re full and warm too. It’s good to see you happy, darling, it really is.”

Minho groans again, turns away and hides his blush behind his hand. He - can't think of anything. He is  _ perfectly _ at peace and there is  _ nothing _ that can disturb him. 

* * *

"How could they have kept this from me  _ my whole life _ ," Minho wails in his car to a slightly amused but mostly worried Jisung. "I'm - half-fae! And not even the same fae! What the fuck! Jisungie - what do I do?! My life is a  _ lie  _ -"

"Snowdrop," Jisung says gently over Minho's nervous rant, "can you take a breath for me? I know this is a lot for you but I don't want you to pass out. That wouldn't be sexy or fun for either of us, as much as I like to carry you around." 

"You like to carry me around?" Minho asks, temporarily distracted. 

"I do, very much. Let's go back to breathing, angel." 

"Fine. Fine. I'm breathing and I'm - fine."

"You don't need to pretend with me," Jisung says, reaches over to take Minho's hand in his. "It's okay if you aren't okay, angel. I wish I could tell you sooner, but it wasn't my place either. I'll be here until you're okay, and then after that too, yeah? You'll be okay eventually, snowdrop."

_ You don't need to _ , Minho wants to say.  _ You don't need to say these words and keep these promises, not when we're basically scamming a relationship. _ But - Jisung presses a kiss to each of his knuckles, looks up for Minho to search in the depth of red and amber again, and Minho thinks that if the same thing happened to Jisung he would be there by his side without question either. 

So maybe, his statement turns into a question, goes from ' _ you don't need to'  _ to ' _ why do you do so?' _ and Minho can't answer that for himself.

(he's lying. he can. he can answer that question for himself, and it is the five simple words of _ it's because i like you _ but he doesn't know what jisung is thinking about and so - he pretends he doesn't know the answer. 

after all, that's easier than admitting this to himself. he's lived the past three months in denial.) 

Jisung spends the rest of the winter holidays with him. He says that it's because he doesn't have anywhere to go, but Minho suspects that is only half of the truth. It's probably also because Jisung's worried about him finding out his true heritage, and wants to spend more time together just so that he knows he’s okay. 

Minho doesn't mind, and so they spend their first Christmas together. Jisung points out as much. 

"This is the first holiday we're spending together," Jisung says, and phrases it like they'll spend more holidays together in the future. 

"It is," Minho says, and tries not to think too deeply into that.  _ Expiry date _ , he reminds himself, but even that melts away when Jisung pulls him into a kiss that tastes like chocolate and wine. "Is there anything you want to do?" He honestly doesn’t feel like doing much since their decision to spend Christmas together was a little rushed.

"It's a bit late to get a tree or anything, but what do you think about putting some fairy lights up? We can turn off all the other lights and watch some movies like that." 

"That sounds really good!" 

With their minds made up, they run to the hardware store - they manage to grab some lights before the store closes, apologising profusely to the staff as they leave - and spend the whole time before dinner stringing the lights up against the walls of Minho's apartment. They leave some for Jisung's apartment, and it takes more time than it should for them to get it up because the cats keep pawing at the lights. 

It feels way too familiar, Minho thinks as Jisung scoops Dori off the pile of lights for the fourth time and sets her in his bedroom, all the while gently scolding her for being naughty. That Jisung is putting up the lights with him so they can watch movies later together is - so familiar. It makes his heart wrench painfully, because he can't help but think that this is all fake, that everything is all planned, and that they have an expiry date.

The words of  _ why are you still here  _ echoes strongly in his heart, but he doesn't have the courage to ask that question. Not yet. He still wants to be a little selfish. 

He doesn't want to let go of Jisung. Not now, not tomorrow, nor in the foreseeable future. 

"Snowdrop? Do you want to get some food? It's getting pretty late, I'll just make us some  _ ramyeon _ \- why don't you pick us something to watch?" 

It feels so familiar. 

"Sure! Anything you feel like watching?" 

He'll be selfish for another night.


	4. the smell of warmth and burnt coffee has become my home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: drinking, alcohol mention

_if to love you means_

_to recarve the constellations_

_to create time and energy_

_to rewrite the entire course of history_

_i will do it_

* * *

Jisung still insists on keeping up his habit of putting flowers on Minho’s front door, because, “I don’t know what time you’ll be back, and I know you like the flowers so I’m going to keep giving them to you!”

“Why don’t you give flowers to the other residents of our place too, or even the neighbours, then?” 

“But you’re the only one I want to give flowers to.” 

So Minho lets Jisung do as he likes, and it’s a couple days before the new year that a bunch of flowers arrive on his doorstep again. He had been meaning to go out to go to the convenience store - he ran out of milk, sue him - but instead he had been stopped at the door by flowers lying at his feet. Sighing, he bends down to pick them up, feeling the affection already swell inside his chest. 

_ ‘Christmas roses, angel! I know Christmas has already passed, but I wanted to wait to let the flowers mature a bit. They’re a little pink now, aren’t they? I hope you keep the flowers out of Soonie’s reach if you want them to last. I’ll see you on New Year’s Eve <3’  _

Unable to help the smile that blooms over his face, he goes back into his apartment and threads the flowers into the vase that he had bought recently. Jisung had been giving him so many flowers that putting them in tall glasses or empty plastic bottles just didn’t cut it anymore, and so now he’s got a different bouquet of flowers in his new vase every few days or so. 

The Christmas roses are small, but their fragrance is sweet and the soft pink hue of the white petals make them even more beautiful. Before he even knows what he’s doing, he’s taking some photos of the flowers, both for his own keepsake and also because Soonie has an affinity for the flowers and likes to knock them out to roll in them.

Satisfied that the flowers won’t immediately wither away while he goes out for errands, he takes to warning his cats not to destroy the flowers - Doongie scratches at the end of his jeans, which he takes as a  _ I will do what I want to _ sign from her - before leaving once again. 

[Jisungie ♡] 

[ _ 16:33 _ ] thank you for the christmas roses 

[ _ 16:33 _ ] they were really pretty!! 

[ _ 16:33 _ ] and

[ _ 16:33 _ ] have you not sent me your whole garden yet 

[ _ 16:33 _ ] feels like you have

[ _ 16:35 _ ] they’re not as pretty as you 

[ _ 16:35 _ ] and no i haven’t ^^

[ _ 16:35 _ ] there are a few flowers that have just started blooming

[ _ 16:35 _ ] you’ll see them soon~

[ _ 16:35 _ ] what’re you doing?? 

[ _ 16:45 _ ] i’m at the convenience store!!

[ _ 16:45 _ ] i ran out of milk ㅠㅠ

[ _ 16:54 _ ] you're playing games again aren’t you haha

[ _ 17:15 _ ] … how did you know 

[ _ 17:15 _ ] !!!!

[ _ 17:16 _ ] you usually do at this time 

[ _ 17:16 _ ] i wont bother you 

[ _ 17:16 _ ] tell me if its good!!

[ _ 17:17 _ ] i will~~

[ _ 17:17 _ ] i’ll talk to you later baby 

[ _ 17:17 _ ] remember to eat early ^^

[ _ 17:20 _ ] i will 

[ _ 17:20 _ ] see you <3

“Oh, Soonie,” Minho murmurs once he puts his phone down, bundling her into his arms as she yowls, devastated that she can’t have a go at the roses. “What do you think I should do about Jisungie? It’s already been four months… I already like him so much, I don’t know what I should do.”

Soonie meows irritatedly from where she’s pressed against his chest. 

“Yes, I know you want to roll in the flowers, but not yet! Jisung just got them for me, baby, I can’t let you do that… not like the daphnes that you ruined,” He says, and laughs when she turns her face away from him. “Don’t be like that, Soonie, I know you like the flowers but you can’t do that!”

He lets Soonie out of his arms and gently directs her to the cat tower, and starts thinking about dinner. 

_ ‘I could just make some curry… but I also have the leftover pasta sauce from when I ate with Jisungie that day… should I leave that for the weekdays when I’m too tired to cook? And I can save some of the curry when Jisung comes over on Monday night!’ _

Settled, he starts dealing with the food prep, and it isn’t until he’s finished chopping up all the ingredients he needs that he realises his life is now so tightly intertwined with Jisung’s. 

He had never needed to think about anyone else when he cooked dinner - except now he does. Now he thinks about Jisung in the same way that Jisung thinks about him, and somehow the both of their lives have been knitted together so well that if they were ever ripped apart from each other Minho thinks it would feel like he’s lost half of himself.

And he doesn’t want to be ripped apart from Jisung. 

He’s been spoiled; he knows how it feels like to have someone to have dinner with, he knows what it feels like to hold someone’s hand, he knows what love might feel like - and he doesn’t want to let go. 

Yet, he doesn’t have the bravery to ask where the lines are drawn between them in the grey haze that is their relationship, and he constantly reminds himself that this is fake. It hurts more than ever now when he laughs with Jisung and has Jisung beside him with their hands held together but knows at the same time that - this is all not real.

Jisung doesn’t know any of this. Of course he doesn't. Minho hasn't so much as said anything about his feelings.

Minho receives another bunch of flowers on Wednesday, the day before the New Year’s Eve. This time, the flowers are a little more special - they are already potted, and a small folded piece of card sits delicately on top of it. 

_ ‘Snowdrop - these are miniature irises. Isn’t the colour gorgeous? They were growing well in the garden but they grow well in containers too, so I potted some for you! I think they’ll keep well in your apartment if you put them near the window in your living room where there’s a lot of sunshine. See you tomorrow, snowdrop,  _ _ I love _ _ remember to dress warmly!'  _

What had Jisung written wrongly that he had crossed it out so many times? Minho can't make out the words for the life of him but he supposed Jisung just made a spelling mistake or something. He folds the card back and tucks it into his pocket while fishing his keys out. 

Unlocking the door first before picking the potted irises up, Minho slowly makes his way into the apartment, careful not to trip over his own cats, who are evidently hungry today. Or maybe they're always hungry, he muses, setting the pot down near the window, because Jisung keeps feeding them treats! He needs to have a talk with Jisung; his cats have become so spoiled ever since they started dating, and he's sure it's all of Jisung's doting on them. 

[Jisungie ♡] 

[ _ 18:47 _ ] thank you for the irises!! and potting them too <33

[ _ 18:47 _ ] i'll make sure to take care of them!!!

[ _ 18:47 _ ] but also stop feeding the cats so often 

[ _ 18:47 _ ] you keep spoiling them!!!

[ _ 19:01 _ ] hi snowdrop~~ 

[ _ 19:01 _ ] it's no problem I thought you'd like them ^^ 

[ _ 19:02 _ ] do I??? 

[ _ 19:02 _ ] they're so cute though ㅠㅠ

[ _ 19:02 _ ] like you [ _ Message has been deleted for all _ ] 

[ _ 19:05 _ ] my cats are cute i agree

[ _ 19:05 _ ] do you wanna come over for dinner??

[ _ 19:05 _ ] oh wait no

[ _ 19:05 _ ] you have to go for night time training right??

[ _ 19:06 _ ] you remembered!

[ _ 19:06 _ ] if you want i can come over at about 9

[ _ 19:06 _ ] i’m seeing you tomorrow though

[ _ 19:10 _ ] come over please?

[ _ 19:10 _ ] i got some of the cheesecake you like 

[ _ 19:10 _ ] [ _ you sent a sticker _ ]

[ _ 19:12 _ ] are you trying to make me fall in love

[ _ 19:13 _ ] maybe??

[ _ 19:13 _ ] well it’s working

[ _ 19:13 _ ] i’ll come over at 9 baby

[ _ 19:15 _ ] okay!!

[ _ 19:15 _ ] take it easy at training

[ _ 19:15 _ ] please don’t get hurt

[ _ 19:16 _ ] i won’t

[ _ 19:16 _ ] don’t worry 

[ _ 19:17 _ ] [ _ Jisungie ♡ sent a photo _ ]

  
  


[ _ 20:00 _ ] the kids say they want you to come to training next time

[ _ 20:01 _ ] [ _ Jisungie ♡ sent a photo _ ]

[ _ 20:10 _ ] oh???

[ _ 20:10 _ ] i’ll go if you buy me coffee

[ _ 20:10 _ ] tell them i hope they’re working hard

[ _ 20:11 _ ] it’s a date <3 

  
  


[ _ 21:05 _ ] [ _ Jisungie ♡ sent a photo _ ]

[ _ 21:05 _ ] i’m omw!!

[ _ 21:14 _ ] [ _ you sent a photo _ ]

[ _ 21:14 _ ] and the door is open ^^

Jisung opens his door at nine-thirty, and the first thing he does is step towards Minho and press a kiss to his mouth. They stay like that for a while, kissing for no other reason than they have missed each other, and then Minho leans away a bit, already smiling. 

“Go and shower, baby. You smell.”

“Thought I smelled  _ good _ ,” Jisung complains, but bumps his hip against Minho’s as he passes and goes into the shower. 

“I’ll get you clothes,” Minho calls. He sees Jisung nod before the bathroom door closes, and then he enters his own bedroom, sure that Jisung had left some sweatpants in his closet the other day. He stands corrected - there are three pairs of sweatpants here, and he picks the one with the softest fabric; he grabs a t-shirt of his own, thin from use but ridiculously comfortable, and then pads out to the bathroom again, knocking on the door gently. 

"Jisungie, can I come in? I have your clothes for you." 

"Yeah, sure!" 

Minho opens the door and sets the clothes on the sink counter, giggling when he sees how steamed up the mirror has become. 

"Remember to -"

"- Use cold water at the end," Jisung finishes for him. "I will, angel. Go and look inside my bag, I bought something for us." 

"Okay!" 

Jisung has brought back snacks for them to share. Minho's just starting to sort through the snacks and decide which ones they should eat when a pair of arms encircle his waist from behind, even more cold than usual. 

"Hey, you," Minho murmurs softly. "Feel better after your shower?" 

"Mmhm. Feel even better with you here," Jisung replies, nuzzles his face into the crook of Minho's neck and shoulder. Scenting, Minho realises, and lets Jisung do his thing as he looks at the snacks again. Somehow, one way or another, Jisung scents him so regularly now and neither of them think much of it - not like last time. Last time, when they had just started this not-real relationship and Minho felt like he was walking ahead in a room full of glass shards with the lights turned off. 

Now, the glass has been swept away and the light is turned on and wherever he goes, there is the smell of warmth and burnt coffee. 

"I'm glad you're home," Minho says quietly, turns his head a little so he can press a kiss to Jisung's forehead, matted with wet hair. 

Instead of saying anything in response, Jisung lifts his head and turns Minho so they're facing each other; they're within breathing distance now. Minho says breathing distance, but it feels like the space around them has become airless, and everything that he has ever known has relocated into the ruby of Jisung's eyes. The longer they stay like that, the more gold comes into Jisung's eyes, like the constellations themselves have decided to find a home there.

Easily, slowly, Jisung closes the minute distance between them.

This is familiar. This is warm. This is - Jisung. The way Jisung has one hand on his waist and the other at the back of his neck; the way Jisung presses a kiss to his bottom lip then takes it between his teeth; the way Jisung angles his face the way he likes it and takes Minho and breaks him apart and puts him back together until Minho is putty in his arms. 

The way when they break apart and Jisung looks at him, and the familiar words rise to his mouth again. "You're beautiful," Jisung murmurs, and then dips in for another kiss before Minho can say anything. 

Perhaps it's better that he doesn't need to say anything when they're like this. The label of being only pretend has long dissolved into the greyness of whatever they are now, and it's difficult to break out of the familiarity and comfort that they have become so used to. And so, Minho let's Jisung kiss him until midnight, snacks just about forgotten, and then he pretends he doesn't cry when Jisung kisses his neck and takes a box out of his pocket. 

"For my fairy," Jisung says, and they're still within breathing distance; the space around them is still airless. He opens the box and there is a pair of earrings, a stud for the helix and then a chain connecting to the lobe before it dangles down into a charm, a small fairy wing with a red jewel set into it.

"Red," Minho says, and gives up on hiding the wobble of his voice, "for my vampire." 

Jisung smiles; Minho lets him put the earring on for him.

They kiss again. After all, it's easier than to speak about how they're feeling.

( _ I'm glad you're my home _ , Jisung wants to say. The words that he can't say, among so many others. He looks at the sparkle of the earrings on Minho under the kitchen lights and wonders if this is what love looks like.)

* * *

“You’re drunk,” Minho says, trying not to laugh as Jisung presses his face into his neck, kissing his skin there. “Jisungie, you’re drunk, do you want to get some water?” 

"No~" Jisung whines, presses his face further into Minho's neck. "No, I wanna stay here with you, angel -"

"You're - horrible," Seungmin says, sipping at something bright pink. 

"You can't say that when your boyfriend was on your lap just now," Minho points out. He knows he's right, because while Changbin is now at the bar to get another drink, he was sprawled all over Seungmin just minutes ago. "Don't be a hypocrite, Kim." 

"No comment," Seungmin says instead, and downs the rest of his drink in one go, wincing when the alcohol burns. "Have you seen where everyone else is?" 

"Well, Chan and Felix disappeared to dance, and Hyunjin and Jeongin are… probably raiding the kitchen," Minho says, still dealing with a handful of drunk vampire not-boyfriend. "And look, Changbin is already here. Now stop talking to me, you're ruining New Year's Eve for me."

"Hey," Changbin says, carrying two drinks with him. "Here you go, Minnie, I got another one from you." He only gets a wide-eyed look from Seungmin before he's pulled into a kiss, and Minho groans as he looks away. 

"Are you sure your boyfriend is not a vixen?" Minho demands of Changbin once he's thoroughly sure that they aren't kissing anymore. "Can you have werevixens? Is that a thing?" 

"You've seen him when he's transformed before," Changbin says absentmindedly, stroking Seungmin's hair. "I think we all can be sure that Minnie isn't a werevixen."

Both of the couples dissolve into their own conversation after that, and Minho turns to Jisung, who is now scraping his teeth lightly over his neck, and Minho tries not to think about what it might feel like to have Jisung's teeth sink into the flesh of his neck. 

"Jisungie," Minho calls, shakes him a little. "Jisungie, do you wanna head to the park? The countdown will start in fifteen minutes, you said you wanted to catch the fireworks, right?" 

"Mm, yeah," Jisung says, but is still insistently mouthing at Minho's neck. "You smell so good, angel, so good…" 

"I'll never wear something like this ever again if you don't behave," Minho says mildly. He doesn't mean a single word of it - he had picked a low cut silk shirt that kept slipping down his shoulders and then topped it with a thick choker, and promptly wished he had taken a photo of Jisung's face when Jisung saw him. 

"Oh?" Jisung says, and then his hands slip from around Minho's waist to under his thighs, lifting him up until Minho is straddling his lap. "You wanna say that again, baby?" 

"God, you're embarrassing," Minho says, but he leans into Jisung anyway, settling his weight onto Jisung. 

"And you're pretty," Jisung replies, thumbing over the hickeys forming on Minho's neck. "I can't believe you're mine," He adds, and his eyes are clouded with alcohol, the red darkened until it looks almost black. 

Minho shivers;  _ is this what want feels like?  _ "Yeah? You like what I'm wearing?" 

"I like all of you," Jisung slurs, and then his hand moves to the back of Minho's neck where it is familiar. Almost naturally, they lean in and then they're kissing again. This time, the way Jisung had scraped his teeth against his neck is fresh in his memory, and perhaps he's curious, he's eager to know how it feels that he presses up harder against Jisung, parts his lips so easily to feed his whines into Jisung's mouth until Jisung has to tug him away by his hair, pupils blown. 

"Fuck, what's gotten into you, angel? You're so needy tonight…" Jisung says, but he doesn't look like he minds a single bit. 

"You - just now -" Minho says, tries to find his words again to string a sentence together. "Just now, my neck -" 

"Yeah?" Jisung says, but he's slipped a sleeve off Minho's shoulder to kiss him there. "Continue, angel." 

"Rude," Minho says, but it sounds weak even to his own ears. "Nothing. We're going to be late if you keep this up." 

"You're the one sitting on my lap," Jisung points out. 

"Oh, stop it," Hyunjin says, sighing as he appears out of nowhere. "We're about to head to the park, do you guys wanna tag along? And  _ no _ handsy action between any of you or I  _ will _ dunk you into the river myself." 

"Sexy," Jisung says, evidently still drunk. "But not as sexy as -"

"Let's go!" Minho says, interrupting whatever Jisung was about to say. 

Jisung is thankfully able to still walk on his own, and the cold air outside helps to sober him up as they bundle up in winter coats and make their way towards the nearby park. Minho fusses over him, makes sure he's warm, knowing that his body temperature always runs a little lower than humans, and that can't be helpful in the middle of winter. He ends up pressing a heat pack to Jisung's face and another to Jisung's hands. He's so focused on what he's doing that he misses the fond look on Jisung's face. 

"Aren't you cold, baby?" Jisung asks after he takes a heat pack from Minho to hold himself.

"Quarter fire fae, remember?" Minho says, sighing. He still hasn't come to terms with it despite it being about a month since he found out. "I'm feeling okay, and I've got this coat."

"Tell me if you're cold, okay?"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll fight the weather for you."

"That's very romantic but I don't think it'll work out well, baby. You can just hug me, I think that'll be better."

The both of them are at the end of their group, lagging behind as the rest walk towards the park. Their hands are intertwined, and when Minho breathes out, little worlds of steam form in front of his eyes before disappearing again. When he looks over, Jisung's cheeks are red, as is the tip of his nose, and he looks as if his drunkenness has been breathed out into the chilling almost-midnight air. 

"Five months," Minho murmurs, doesn't mind if Jisung doesn't hear him. 

Jisung does. "Five months," He agrees, and squeezes Minho's hand. 

Minho's heart feels like it's poised on his lips; it’ll either stay full like this or break into pieces within the next minute. "You - you know how we said this - us - would be fake in the beginning?" 

"Mmhm," Jisung says, and then he stops walking. He's still holding Minho's hand, so Minho is pulled along to a stop with him. "That's what we agreed on, yeah."

"You - are you drunk?" Minho asks quietly; he wants to make sure. Jisung still hasn't let go of his hand. 

"Not enough to not know what I'm saying. I'll remember everything too," Jisung says, and he says it like it's a promise.

Minho breathes out slowly, watches another world of steam disappear in front of him and hopes that his own world does not disappear like that. "It's not been fake for me for… a while now," Minho says, and hopes Jisung knows what he's saying. “Everything… all of this - and us - I’ve not thought that it’s fake.”

Jisung reaches out, touches the earring he gave Minho a week ago with frozen fingers. "I know," Jisung murmurs, "I know. It hasn't been for me either." His touch is still warm to Minho.

Minho feels his heart both stop and notch to a hundred and twenty all at the same time. "Then…" 

"Yeah," Jisung says, and then he's smiling, one so soft and tender that he's got his heart hanging off his lips and it's for Minho only. "I like you, Minho,” He says, and says Minho’s name while he’s at it. It sounds so pretty off his tongue. “Everything I've ever said to you - I meant all of it. None of this has been just pretend for me for a long time." 

Minho would cry, but he thinks maybe they'll freeze into crystals on his skin. "I - I like you too. I was… I was so scared to tell you," He admits, but feels the tears well up in his eyes anyway. "I kept thinking everything was all fake and I liked you more and more with each week…" 

"I like you," Jisung repeats, and brings Minho's hand up to kiss it reverently. "I like you, so much - everything,  _ everything _ is for you, because of you." 

"And to think I've been keeping this from you for months," Minho says, laughs a bit because his heart is a thousand times lighter. 

"So have I," Jisung says, smiles with him. "But now - now I have nothing I’m keeping from you.” 

“I like you,” Minho says, and there is so much in those three words that he thinks he’ll never get over the elation of being able to say it out loud. “I like you, so much, Jisungie. I really do. I can’t - oh, god, we’re going to miss the fireworks -”

“Doesn’t matter,” Jisung says, and holds Minho close. “Not right now, not to me. The fireworks don’t matter to me right now.” 

“You get to see the fireworks once a year,” Minho reminds him, “and you get to see me everyday.” 

“This is my first new year’s with you,” Jisung says instead, and then they’re pressed up against each other, warm. They don’t even hear the start of the countdown around them; the world they are concerned with are in each other’s eyes. 

“It is,” Minho says, and wonders how Jisung can look so pretty under this park lane street lamp, shining golden down on them. It’s still not as pretty as the gold he can find in Jisung’s eyes, and suddenly he’s hit with the realisation that he can look at Jisung without uncertainty, without guilt, and without fear that they will hit an end abruptly. 

“Hey,” Jisung says, and he sounds so soft, “why are you crying? You’re going to make me cry too.” 

“I - “ Minho can’t say those words yet, “- I like you. I can’t believe I can say it to you.” 

“I like you too,” Jisung says, the words bubbling in his mouth like champagne. “I like you so much.”

( _ “Five!” _ )

“It’s almost time for the fireworks,” Minho says, looks up at the brilliance of Seoul around them; neon lights a sea away from their street lamp dark.

( _ “Four!” _ )

“Found someone to kiss for the countdown?” Jisung asks teasingly, pulls Minho back closer to him.

( _ “Three!” _ )

“You’re so clingy when you’re drunk,” Minho says, voice full of affection. “And yes, I have. What about you?”

( _ “Two!” _ )

“I will if you say yes.”

( _ “One!” _ )

“Yes.”

( _ “Happy New Year!” _ )

A hand on his waist, the other on his neck. Fireworks going off in the background as they stand there, pressed together in as many ways as they can; it’s cold around them but the warmth between them is more than enough heat for them; the sounds of cheering echoes around them but it doesn’t make its way into their bubble of happiness.

"Happy new year," Jisung murmurs, right against Minho's mouth, "snowdrop." 

"Happy new year, baby," Minho says, laughing a little; he's still got wet in his eyes, but that's okay. He's got Jisung. "Any resolutions?"

Jisung pauses for a while, then nods decisively. "Yeah. To protect you." Then he leans in again to kiss Minho, the familiar position of one hand on his waist and the other behind his neck. He’s already been protecting Minho these past five months - but he didn’t expect that he would be protected back, that he would also find safety and warmth and happiness and  _ home _ when he was brought in by the cat he had been hanging out with for months. 

“Let’s go find our friends,” Minho says, and for a moment Jisung thinks he sees crystals in Minho’s eyes. 

He doesn’t want to go. Not yet. He wants to stay under this street lamp for a while longer because he is selfish like that. He wants to stay here and hold Minho in his arms and look at him and wonder at the flush of his cheeks and the bright of his eyes and the chapped of his lips. He wants to hold Minho’s hand forever and have it feel like just a second because he wants to spend even more with Minho.

“Jisungie?”

Jisung smiles. “Let’s go.”

* * *

The Lunar New Year arrives faster than Minho could think possible - and then suddenly he’s getting ready to go home to his parents again. He thinks he’s met his parents more over the past four months than he has for the past few years. Perhaps it also arrives faster than ever because he isn’t worrying about the nature of his relationship with Jisung.

He doesn’t need to think twice about using pet names. He doesn’t need to wonder if he can kiss Jisung. He doesn’t need to hesitate when he wants to hold Jisung’s hand.

His chest is so much lighter and there is only tenderness and affection where guilt and worry once resided.

Apparently, it shows on his face too. His mother coos at him when he goes home again, and when his parents talk about Jisung, he talks only with happiness and excitement. 

“Whatever you were going through, I am happy that you overcame it,” Minho’s father says, smiling. “Last time when your boyfriend came over - you looked a little lost whenever we asked you something about him.”

Minho smiles too, and decides he’ll save the story for another time. 

[Baby ♡]

[ _ 22:09 _ ] look it’s snowing!!

[ _ 22:09 _ ] [ _ you sent a video _ ]

[ _ 22:09 _ ] it’s so pretty i wish you were here with me

[ _ 22:10 _ ] oh it’s snowing here too!!

[ _ 22:11 _ ] [ _ Baby ♡ sent you a video _ ]

[ _ 22:11 _ ] it’s not as pretty as you 

[ _ 22:11 _ ] are you going to sleep soon?

[ _ 22:15 _ ] yeah i think so

[ _ 22:15 _ ] gotta drive tomorrow so 

[ _ 22:15 _ ] you??

[ _ 22:16 _ ] me too 

[ _ 22:16 _ ] dinner at my place tomorrow?

[ _ 22:17 _ ] yes <3

[ _ 22:17 _ ] i’ll bring food eomma will make me take some home

[ _ 22:18 _ ] go to sleep

[ _ 22:18 _ ] you have a longer drive than me

[ _ 22:18 _ ] fine

[ _ 22:19 _ ] bc i get to see you tomorrow

[ _ 22:19 _ ] goodnight angel ^^

[ _ 22:20 _ ] goodnight baby <3

It’s only been three days since he hasn’t seen Jisung, and it’s not even like he hasn’t completely not had contact with Jisung. He’s been texting and calling Jisung, and even had the occasionally video or selfie that Jisung sends him; there should be no reason that he misses Jisung so much - but he  _ does _ . 

“You’re still in the honeymoon phase,” Minho’s mother says teasingly, and Minho groans, goes back into his room like he’s sixteen and still a teenager.

But - he supposes his mother isn’t wrong.

He spends the entire drive home practising how he’ll act when he goes up to Jisung’s apartment for dinner, and then when he goes up to Jisung’s at six-thirty in the evening in comfy clothes, all his words are thrown out the window because - 

Jisung sweeps him into such a tight hug that Minho can’t help but return it with just as much strength. They stay like that for a while, then the hug melts into something softer, warmer, until they’re just holding each other on the threshold of Jisung’s door. Recharging. 

“I missed you,” Minho says, muffled into Jisung’s hair. “I missed you a lot.”

“I missed you a lot too,” Jisung says. “You don’t even smell like me anymore.” 

Minho laughs, endeared. “Stop being such a vampire, baby. I’ve been away for three days. I smell like you so much these days.”

“You don’t smell entirely like me,” JIsung objects, pulls Minho into the warmth of his apartment. “We smell like a combination.”

“Oh? What do I smell like then?” 

“Cats,” Jisung says, full of mirth, then softens, “and spring. It’s why I decided to start giving you flowers. You smell so warm, baby.” 

“You’re warm to me too,” Minho says, sets the basket of food on Jisung’s small dining table. “With like - some coffee somewhere under there. We smell like a coffee shop together.”

“We do,” Jisung says, and then goes to get some plates and cutlery.

Minho had only planned on coming over for dinner - but he ends up staying the night after making sure his cats are fine. Like everything else with Jisung, he had only planned to stay for a while, but he stays for longer, and perhaps for a much more permanent stay too in the long run too. 

“Goodnight,” Jisung whispers when it’s dark and they’re squeezed together on Jisung’s single bed, a thick blanket thrown over them. “Sweet dreams, snowdrop.”

“Goodnight,” Minho says, reflects the words back with just as much affection. “Dream of me, baby.”

“I don’t need to dream,” Jisung says, and his words are already melting into each other, a sure sign that he’s sleepy. “I already have you here, in my reality.”


	5. your love that is my beginning and ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: implied sexual content, descriptions of blood/blood drinking

_if i trace a finger over your collarbone_

_can i read my fate in your skin there_

_if i place my mouth there for worship_

_will you finally look at me, as i kneel here?_

* * *

After the Lunar New Year, everything goes back to clockwork. Work, cats, Jisung, sleep, and then repeat. It’s a routine that Minho is more than satisfied with, and for all of the pain that he had felt last time, his happiness now feels even sweeter. Sometimes, his routine is punctuated by a visit to the university to meet Jisung’s volleyball team, or a date out with Jisung, or the occasional visit to SPO where he swears at them inside his head and then out loud to Chan.

“Everything okay with the boyfriend?” Chan asks, right before they get off work a week after the Lunar New Year. 

“The best,” Minho says, beaming. 

Chan laughs at that, and slings an arm around Minho’s shoulders, glad that Minho is happy.

Before Minho even notices, mid-February has already arrived, bringing with it the end of winter. He supposes it’s because they're on the final stretch of preparing for a bigger case, and time has just slipped away from him. But he  _ does _ notice when he walks into the office one Friday to see pink sticky notes on all of their computers. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day from HR,” Chan says as Minho sits down and squints at the sticky note. “Apparently there will be free donuts at lunchtime?”

“HR is being generous this year,” Minho snorts, then fishes his phone out. 

[Baby ♡]

[ _ 08:07 _ ] so i completely forgot but

[ _ 08:07 _ ] happy valentine’s day <3

[ _ 08:10 _ ] oh you’re so funny 

[ _ 08:10 _ ] happy valentine’s day angel

[ _ 08:10 _ ] im expecting chocolate

[ _ 08:11 _ ] yeah right 

[ _ 08:11 _ ] you're not getting it

[ _ 08:12 _ ] mm i think i will be ^^

Jisung is absolutely right. He’s already planning to drop by the convenience store to get Jisung’s favourite brand of chocolate and ice cream, but he’s not about to tell Jisung that and boost his ego. Instead, he turns his notifications off and starts reading his emails before HR can come in and see he’s not working and then take away his promised donut. 

Valentine’s Day goes by in a flash even though he has a boyfriend to celebrate it with.

He goes to pick Jisung up after work because Jisung took the bus to work today, and hands him the chocolate and ice cream. Jisung ends up sharing everything with him, and by the time they arrive at home, their mouths are sticky from chocolate, and the ice cream bars are more than a little melted.

“Don’t kiss me anymore,” Minho says, laughing and shoving Jisung into the bathroom. “Go wash your mouth!” 

Jisung has to leave before dinner in the end - “I have some team plans to draw up, angel, I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch!” - so Minho settles down for a quiet night of leftovers for dinner and gaming, which he is perfectly content with. Soonie settles on his lap while Dori bats at Doongie’s tail at his feet, and the sounds of his game fills the air.

Winter might be ending, but Minho migrates to his bed to tuck himself in anyway, and lets his cats sprawl all over him. It’s warm and soft and the only thing that could be improved on is if Jisung was here with him. He considers telling Jisung this, but decides that Jisung is probably concentrating on his plans; he’ll text Jisung first thing tomorrow. 

He’s already planning on going to sleep, tired and having a possible sugar crash from eating three donuts in the afternoon when - the doorbell rings.

Minho squints at his clock. ‘ _ 11:09 pm _ ’. 

Who the hell is ringing his doorbell this late at night? It can’t be any of his friends, or even Jisung, because he hasn’t received any messages from any of them that they’re coming to see him. The doorbell rings again and he wonders if he should actually answer the door. Perhaps it’s a delivery or something? He’s never had a delivery arrive this late before… 

Deciding he might as well get over with it, he gets out of bed and pads over to the door, peeking through the spy hole - and then is immediately filled with delight. He rushes to unlock the door, fingers fumbling with the lock, then he swings it open. 

“Baby!” Minho says before Jisung can so much as get a word in. “What are you doing here?”

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Jisung says, and there’s just a slight tremble in his voice. “I - I got you something.”

“You didn’t need to,” Minho says, a little confused but happy all at the same time. 

“No -” Jisung says, and then cuts himself off, swallowing. He looks so nervous that Minho pulls him into his apartment, into the warmth. Jisung is hiding something behind him, but Minho doesn’t pry; he knows Jisung will tell him what it is in time.

“Baby?” 

“Um - Happy Valentine’s Day. I’ve been thinking about this since - since New Year’s Eve, and there’s something else I haven’t told you yet,” Jisung says after a deep breath. “It’s not anything bad! Don’t worry, angel - but… um - here.” Then Jisung reveals what was behind his back.

It’s a bouquet of the tiniest white flowers, clustered together with dark green stems. A white piece of ribbon ties the stems together, forming a simple knot; the ribbon is tangled around Jisung’s wrist, and when Minho looks up at him, Jisung’s smiling, albeit a bit nervously.

Jisung has gotten him baby’s breath.

“You… got my favourite flower? For Valentine’s Day?” Minho asks, a little breathless. Somewhere behind him, his phone chimes with a notification. It suddenly occurs to Minho that it must be 11:11 now.

“I did,” Jisung says, and then he’s stepping closer. He’s on the threshold of Minho’s door, not quite entering yet. 

“You can come in, you know,” Minho murmurs, everything suddenly too loud for the air between them. “You’re always welcome wherever I am.”

“For you,” Jisung says instead, pressing the bouquet into Minho’s hands gently. “I planted these years ago, but they bloomed really nicely this year - and you just told me that these were your favourite flowers the other day.”

“You didn’t need to,” Minho says, takes the flowers and presses a finger to the soft petals.

“I wanted to,” Jisung corrects him softly. “I wanted to because I love you.” 

Minho’s head snaps up, and his heart notches to a hundred and twenty again. “Wh - what did you say?”

“I love you,” Jisung repeats, and something like the stars come into his eyes, gold. “I love you so much, angel.” He reaches out to take Minho’s hand, the one that was touching the petals, and he threads their fingers together so he can feel Minho’s heartbeat between his own. “You know what these flowers mean, right?” 

Minho feels his vision blur; tears come into his eyes but happiness comes to his mouth. “I do. I do - and I love you too, baby. You didn’t need to get me these flowers to tell me you love me.” 

“Yeah,” Jisung says, voice sweeter than the flowers, “I know, but I wanted to. With you - I want to do everything I can for you.” 

Minho pulls him into his apartment, unable to stop himself from smiling. He plucks a stem out from the bouquet then sets it down on his table; turning to Jisung, he twists the stem until it can stay when he threads it into Jisung’s hair, resting above his ear. 

“You look so pretty,” Minho whispers as Jisung takes him into his arms, the familiar position of a hand on his waist and the other behind his neck. “My two favourites, right in front of me.” 

“My whole world,” Jisung returns, “in front of my eyes.” 

Minho sees golden in the scarlet, and then he closes his eyes. Jisung still smells like warmth and coffee after all this while, and now he smells like home too. Beneath all of that, he thinks he smells it - spring. Flowers. Soil and sunshine. The scents that Jisung had said belonged to him. 

“I love you,” Minho says, a secret, to Jisung’s lips. 

“I love you too,” Jisung says, and then he feeds the rest of his confession into Minho’s mouth.

( _ I love you more than anything, a promise to each other’s mouth. I will be here for you, in the way their hands are tangled so tightly together, bodies melded together at every point they touch. I want to be with you forever, pressed dry between his favourite book, looking exactly like dried baby breath. _ )

* * *

Minho always likes it when they go out on their dates. It’s something different to their usual dinner together or rooftop garden dates because they’re both busy and they don’t have enough time to dress up and go out often. Therefore, when they  _ do _ manage to grab some time to go out, he likes to dress nicely. 

“You do it just to make me suffer,” Jisung accuses when he comes to pick Minho up, and Minho supposes he’s also kind of right. 

“You’ve seen my body before,” Minho says mildly, shutting the door behind him and locking it. 

Like a moth to light, Jisung’s hands find the exposed curve of his waist, courtesy of the cropped hoodie he decided to wear. When he isn’t doing anything, his skin isn’t revealed since he’s also wearing high-waisted jeans, but as soon as he tries to reach for something, his skin is exposed. Jisung can’t stop looking. Or touching.

“Oh, c’mon, we’re going to get there for  _ dinner _ if you keep touching me,” Minho says, but is pleased with Jisung’s reaction. 

“But you’re so  _ sexy _ ,” Jisung whines. “I changed my mind, can’t we stay in and -”

“I want  _ food _ , you bastard. We can do whatever you want after we come back, I promise.”

“See what I do to you next time we go out,” Jisung grumbles, but he holds Minho’s hand anyway and they set out to find the small restaurant they had found on Naver a few days ago.

Everything goes well at the restaurant. They find their way there easily, the food is good, and Minho gets to pay the bill because he lost at rock-paper-scissors. Jisung also still has not gotten over his choice of wardrobe, and keeps taking any available opportunity to put his hands on Minho’s waist or pull him in for a kiss, and it’s when Jisung is kissing him against the wall of the convenience store in a side alleyway that Minho lets it slip out of his mouth.

“Ah - Jisung… not here -” Minho groans as Jisung mouths over the side of his neck, canines scraping gently over his skin there. “Not here - it’ll be so messy -”

“What’s going to be so messy?” Jisung asks, pressing the words into Minho’s skin and inhaling the smell of spring and coffee. “What do you want me to do that’ll be messy?”

“ _ You _ -” Minho says, but doesn’t know how to continue when Jisung’s fingers grip tight around his bare waist. "You keep mouthing at my neck," He finally manages to get out, and can't help the breath of air that leaves him when Jisung's eyes flash brightly at his words, entrances by the red and gold. 

"And what about that?" Jisung murmurs, leans close in again to pepper kisses around the bruises that he's left on Minho's skin. "Do you like it, baby? Do you want me to take blood from you?"

" _ God _ , baby - please, don't make me say it -"

"Say what? I haven't taken my pills after our lunch, you know."

"I… I can't say it here."

"I'll take you home then." 

They don't keep their hands away from each other the whole walk back to their apartment. Their arms are tightly intertwined, and Jisung keeps murmuring things into his ear in a low voice, almost makes him trip over his own feet. When they arrive, they make an unanimous decision to go to Minho's apartment, which is on a lower floor and therefore will afford them privacy faster. 

As soon as Minho manages to get his key in the lock and the door is open, presses him against the wall of his own living room when the bed is  _ right there _ . 

“So, what was it that you couldn’t tell me when we were outside?” Jisung murmurs, voice low like the hang of the sun outside the window, and Minho tries not to focus on that too much. “Is it something you’re embarrassed to say, baby?” He slides his hand under Minho’s cropped hoodie, hands cool against Minho’s heated waist. He's already shed his jacket, leaving him in a sleeveless t-shirt.

“It’s  _ nothing _ ,” Minho says, keeping his voice as flat as he can. He can’t look anywhere else but into Jisung’s eyes; if he looks to his sides, he’ll only focus on the lines of veins rippling up Jisung’s arms, and that’s already led to his downfall before. “Let me go, or at least take me to bed, you bastard.” 

“Thought we’ve established I’m not letting you go?” Jisung asks, and then he dips in closer to press a kiss to the hollow of Minho’s neck and shoulder. 

Like clockwork, Minho’s mind flicks to the  _ want _ that’s been bubbling at the base of his throat for weeks now - ever since the New Year’s Eve when they went to that party - and when Jisung gently scrapes his teeth against his exposed neck, the bubble makes its way up into his mouth, onto his tongue, forms his words sweet and wanting there. The words are close,  _ so close _ to being said out loud, but it dissolves into a whine when Jisung pulls away after nipping at his skin there; Minho wants to pull him back in, closer. 

“Angel?” Jisung says, and when Minho opens his eyes - he doesn’t even remember closing his eyes - there is gold flickering in the depths of Jisung’s red eyes. They’re so close. Minho will never get over how breathless he feels when they’re this close, even if it happens to him every day.

“You…” Minho starts, and damns everything to hell. “You can - I mean, I wouldn’t mind if -” He feels the words die in his throat as his voice shakes, and feels like he’s breathed out the last of the air around them. 

“You wouldn’t mind…?” Jisung prompts, but doesn’t let Minho continue because he fits one arm around Minho’s waist and the other hand behind Minho’s neck, keeps Minho exactly where he wants him. It’s familiar, but this time it does things to Minho’s brain, and he lets Jisung press their mouths together, his human-warm against Jisung’s vampire-cool, and he thinks he actually lets out a whimper when the sharp of Jisung’s canines latch onto his bottom lip. 

It takes two seconds for it to happen. Jisung, hearing his honey-sweet whine, and biting down into Minho’s bottom lip harder than he meant to; and then in response, just the tiniest bit of Minho’s blood leaking onto his tongue, sweeter than how he smells, and Jisung has to stop himself from going back for more. 

“Fuck, fuck - sorry, baby,” Jisung says, heaves a little with his breathing as he parts from Minho, brings a hand round to Minho’s mouth to wipe the blood away. “I didn’t mean to do that, are you okay?” The blood stains Minho’s lips red like the tint he likes to wear; Jisung doesn’t think he’ll get this image out of his mind for the next week of nights.

Minho doesn’t think he’ll be able to function properly ever again. 

“No - I mean - I - when you did that… I - “

“You?” 

“I…  _ I liked it and it’s okay for you to bite my neck too _ ,” Minho finally says, and the last half of his sentence rushes out into an incoherent mess. He can’t bite down on his bottom lip like he usually does when he’s nervous because Jisung’s finger is still there, so he ends up fidgeting with the hair at the base of Jisung’s neck, feeling his pulse increase so much that it’s impossible for Jisung not to be able to hear it, not with how close they are. 

“Can you say that again for me, angel?” Jisung asks, and the finger resting on Minho’s bottom lip climbs up a little, threatening to breach Minho’s mouth. “I didn’t quite catch what you said at the end.”

“You  _ did _ ,” Minho says, knows it because Jisung has this little smile that means he’s heard what he said. “Stop playing around with me! You - you know what I want.” 

“Do I?” Jisung says, with the tiniest laugh that makes Minho scowl and look away, heat rising into his cheeks. “Oh, don’t be mad, snowdrop, you’re so cute when I rile you up,” Jisung adds, and then moves his hand away, presses another kiss to Minho’s lips and then - rests his mouth against Minho’s neck, mouthing over his pulse. 

“Baby…” Minho breathes out, feels a little light-headed even when Jisung is just here, bodies pressed so close together they might as well be one. 

“You’re pretty,” Jisung responds, moves away from Minho’s neck to his face, kisses his forehead, the corner of his eyes, the tip of his nose, the corners of his mouth and the soft of his cheeks. “You’re so pretty, angel… my pretty fairy.” He finishes with a long kiss to Minho’s mouth, and pulls Minho’s bottom lip softly between his teeth. The sharpness only reminds Minho of what Jisung can do, and he tries not to whine about it. 

“Bastard vampire with terrible vampire senses,” Minho says, and he feels Jisung smile against his mouth; it makes him dizzy. 

“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Jisung says, and then before Minho can say anything else, Jisung lifts him up into his arms and makes his way to the bedroom, leaving Minho to cling onto him. 

“Please tell me before you do that,” Minho says, sighing. 

“You like it when I surprise you,” Jisung counters. He sits down on the bed, and Minho shifts until he's sitting comfortably on Jisung's lap, feeling oddly shy even though they've been like this before. "Do you really want me to bite you, angel? It's not the most comfortable thing, and it'll leave a mark for a while."

"You say that like I don't know," Minho mumbles, hands scrunching up the ends of Jisung's shirt. "I want you to. Every time you do that thing with your teeth I just - it feels good, so I…"

"Say stop anytime you want to stop," Jisung says, moving one of Minho's hands to rest on his shoulder, "and tap twice if you can't speak. It won't take long, angel." 

"Okay," Minho says, voice shaking a little as he lets Jisung strip him of his hoodie. 

Jisung's hands are immediately on his skin, cool against arousal-warm, and it helps to calm him down, heart almost hammering against the shell of his chest when Jisung presses a kiss to the left side of his neck. 

"Need you to calm down a bit, snowdrop," Jisung murmurs. "Don't want to take too much blood from you the first time." 

"I - I'll try," Minho says, swallows and takes a few deep breaths. 

"Good," Jisung says, pressing his thumbs into Minho's hips. "So good for me, angel." 

It takes a while, but Minho does calm down enough for Jisung to be satisfied. There's one moment of Jisung reconfirming with Minho that he's comfortable and willing, then Jisung kisses over Minho's neck once, twice, and then he sets his teeth there - Minho whimpers a little at the feeling - and he bites down on Minho's skin. 

" _ Ah _ \- baby -" Minho whines, and scrabbles for Jisung's shoulders, trying to find something to hold on to. "Fuck - fuck,  _ baby _ -"

Jisung stays at his neck, hands gripping him firmly in place, and the gentle motion of Jisung drinking his blood contrasts with the hardness of the canines he can feel digging into his neck. The feeling is more dizzying than he thought possible, and even though Jisung finishes up within the next few seconds, lapping softly at the wound on his neck, he can't help but fall forward to lean into Jisung, overwhelmed by everything that he's feeling. 

"Oh, angel," Jisung says, still cleaning up around the wound, "you're so cute, all dizzy for me after I take your blood." 

"Shut up," Minho says, head resting on Jisung's shoulder. "You have so much to say even when your mouth is full."

"Of course I do. You taste wonderful, angel. Like spring." 

"God, you never stop, do you?"

"Never," Jisung says, like a promise. 

Minho lifts his head after a while and touches the wound on his neck, knows he's going to preen in the mirror later. Jisung's lips are stained red with his own blood, and when he kisses Jisung, the taste of iron fills his mouth.

* * *

The spring has set in properly now. Days are longer and the weather is warmer; more flowers bloom in Jisung's garden and more flowers reside in Minho's vase. On both of their phone calendars is a reminder that they have an outing planned to go and see the cherry blossoms together during the next month. 

Their lives only become even more intertwined. 

Minho has blood pills in his cupboard in case of emergencies, and his first aid kit is now in use a lot more often with all the scrapes that Jisung tends to get from his job. He also has bruises on his arms now from joining the volleyball games with the kids on the weekends, and it's a small price to pay for pure happiness. 

Jisung has cat treats in his kitchen, and more groceries in his fridge because they like to cook together for dinner now. He also has a new number in his phone - Chan's, because he's gotten to know Chan pretty well for all the times he waits to pick Minho up. His laptop is always open on a page for some game review or other, scouring the internet for new games that they both can try and play together.

'Nice' can't begin to describe the happiness that they both carry and share within them.

It's one evening after dinner together that Minho asks to go up to the garden; Jisung agrees. He always will.

"It's always so beautiful up here," Minho sighs, looking around the rooftop garden. The sun sets later in the day now, and they've just managed to catch the last of the sunset for the day. 

"Yeah," Jisung agrees, but he's looking at Minho.

There's a moment of silence between them, filled by the bustle of the streets around them and the rustle of the leaves as an evening breeze starts blowing through. It feels a lot like the evening he collapsed so many months ago when they were still unsure of where they stood. 

And now, when Minho looks at Jisung, there is more happiness than he ever thought he could get when he looked at someone. 

"I love you," Minho says, easy. Familiar. 

"I love you too," Jisung returns, and he takes Minho's hand in his. Their fingers fill the space in for each other perfectly, like every atom that made them was made to love each other.

With his other free hand,Jisung thumbs over the mark on Minho's neck; he kisses it reverently, and then moves to kiss Minho's forehead, the tip of his nose, and the two corners of his mouth. 

"Love you so much," Jisung says softly. His voice sounds like the evening breeze that lifts stray petals into their hair. 

Minho smiles, then closes the airless gap between them. Kissing Jisung is still the same, after all this time. 

Easy. Familiar. Love. 

( the dreams that he once dreaded because jisung was a side character in them are now dreams that he adores. nothing has changed much since then - except that jisung is the star of his dreams now, and sometimes he can't bear to wake up because they're so lovely.

he still does, anyway, because his reality is better than any dream he could possibly have. after all, right now, in this reality, he has jisung to wake up to. )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please dont look at the word count i think ill lose my mind!! ki i hope you like this hhhh im going into hibernation now!!!
> 
> i hope youve liked this read!! its my first try at something modern + fantasy so i tried to make it as realistic?? as possible in a way??? like the blood pills and things hhh i hope it was okay!! there are a lot of things that i haven't covered/explored in the fic, like the vigilante thing or seungbin or like literally anyone else But Regardless i hope it was a nice read!! 
> 
> i tried to phase minsungs relationship?? like, from strangers + the reasoning why they started to fake date, and then the progression of their relationship ahhhh i hope thats okay too!! honestly im a little winded from posting everything and maybe ill come back to add more to my notes but for now this is it
> 
> thank you to rain and cal for beta-ing, and thank you again to rain for helping me come up with what type of fae minho is!! to everyone that ive been screaming to about vampsung, i apologise. i will now shut up and sleep for like, a week
> 
> this is probably my last fill for minsungbingo, so huge thank you to minsungbingo!!! ive been writing so much for so many different tropes that was otherwise outside my comfort zone so thank you to the mods for hosting such a wonderful event!!
> 
> (and the things u see at the start of each chapter is my dumb poetry pls tell me if u like it HHHHH)
> 
> anyway!!! i hope everyone has a lovely day and that you're all keeping safe <333

**Author's Note:**

> my [Tumblr](https://yeongwonlino.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/yeongwonlino/)!!


End file.
